


Like You Mean to Kill Them

by thepiedsniper



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, F/M, Horror, Near Death Experiences, Romance, Temporary Character Death, kakasaku - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 12:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13636719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepiedsniper/pseuds/thepiedsniper
Summary: Sakura is tired of being underestimated, and just wants someone to see her for the strong ninja she really is. Can Kakashi help, or will she always be weak in his eyes?





	1. Rabbit

"I know most of you are feeling a bit sore after your last mission, but that doesn't mean you get out of training." Kakashi gazed at his three subordinates over the top of his novel. He, Naruto and Sai had recently returned from a rather long and painful mission in the Hidden Mist. Konoha hospital couldn't spare Sakura's medic skills that long, so she had been forced to stay behind (much to her indignation).

"So I guess we'll just do a fox hunt for today," Kakashi continued, stretching his arms. A fox hunt was an exercise with three people (or 'foxes') against one rabbit. Sakura smiled to herself. Usually one of the men got picked to be the rabbit. They needed to be quick on their feet and last a while before finally being caught. But currently Sakura was in the best physical condition of the four of them. She would get to be the rabbit for sure.

"So..." The silver-haired jounin paused to consider before finally asking, "Naruto- do you want to be the rabbit for today?"

"Sure thing," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles as Kakashi tucked the book into his back pocket.

Sakura coughed. "Um, Kakashi Sensei, couldn't I be the rabbit today? I wasn't on the last mission and I've been looking forward to a chance to stretch my legs a little."

"Well..." he was stalling, and she knew it. "…Naruto, is that okay with you?"

"Fine," he grinned. "I make a better fox anyway."

"Then I guess it's okay," he finally conceded. "But you have to keep us back for as long as possible," he warned.

"This isn't my first hunt, Kakashi," Sakura said with forced calm. Her old teacher shrugged. He made to get his  _Icha Icha_  book out again, but stopped when he saw the look on her face.

As she pulled on her gloves (with a little more force than necessary) the kunoichi asked, "Should I fight you like a friend or an enemy?"

There was a pause for a moment, as all three stared at her. She simply stared politely back at them.

Then Naruto laughed. "Are you serious?" Even Sai was smiling in amusement.

"Sakura, you can fight us like we're friends if you want," Kakashi told her, exasperated, "But you should understand that we won't hold back on you."

"Yeah, we're not gonna go easy!" Naruto agreed.

Sakura smiled at him. "I don't expect you to."

They began on Kakashi's signal. Sakura took off like a rocket through the woods, the others hot on her heels. Dodging one tree she leapt high into another with a burst of chakra. She knew at this stage her job was just to run as fast as she could. But she also knew she'd have trouble losing them completely. Naruto had shadow clones, Sai could attack from the air, and Kakashi was, well,  _Kakashi_. So she kept her movements as random and hard to follow as possible for a while. She leapt to one branch only to find one of Naruto's clones had beaten her to it. It was grinning triumphantly, but not for long. Sakura smashed through it and dropped down to the forest floor.

Naruto and two more clones were coming from the left, yelling at the top of their lungs and forming a spinning blue rasengan. Sakura would be a fool to go that way. Sai flanked her on the right, waiting. Her forward option was removed when she met with the base of a particularly large tree. Kakashi, who had taken the rear and hidden himself from view, was hardly surprised Sakura had been stopped so quickly. This was why he rarely made her the rabbit; it wasn't much of a challenge to the others. She was facing the tree as though willing it to move aside.

 _Stupid; never show the enemy your back like that,_ Kakashi thought. When she turned around once more, he took a handful of kunai and threw it at her. She'd be forced to move to the right, where Sai would be waiting for her.

The kunai sailed from Kakashi's position in the branches. He watched them head toward her as though in slow motion. Sakura had plenty of time to dodge. But she was still standing there, as though trying to think of another alternative. Naruto continued running toward her, Sai continued waiting, and Sakura continued standing; until with a flash of red the kunai all hit their mark. Kakashi's eye widened in shock. Why hadn't she moved? The pink-haired girl lurched forward and coughed, a trickle of blood running down her chin.  _It couldn't be real, could it_? But as far as he knew she couldn't make shadow clones, and even if she could it would have been destroyed by now. But she was still there, spluttering and bleeding.

The Narutos stopped in their tracks, rasengan dissipating.

"Sakura?" he asked in disbelief.

The kunoichi merely clutched her wounded chest and collapsed to her knees with a  _thump_. Then she keeled over, face-down in a pool of blood.

 _This wasn't meant to happen._ Kakashi was frozen in place, sweat running down his neck. She was meant to move! She could have moved easily! People didn't…  _die_ in training exercises.

Then suddenly there was a cold blade at his throat and a knee digging into his back.

"It's over," somebody murmured in his ear before kicking him forward off the branch.

He landed in front of Naruto and the tree with a semi-graceful thud, straightening immediately. Then his attacker landed beside him, making Naruto gasp. There was Sakura, bleeding to death on the ground, and there was Sakura, standing beside them with a kunai.

"It's over," she repeated, tucking the blade into her pouch as Sai came over to join them.

"Sa- Sakura-" Naruto began, before she cut him off.

"You underestimated me," she told them, pointing at Kakashi, "Especially you. You were over-confident, giving away your position just now." Behind her, the dead Sakura disappeared in a shower of cherry blossoms. "That's why I was able to use that genjutsu Kurenai Sensei taught me."

"Kurenai Sensei taught you a genjutsu? When?" Naruto asked, more relieved that Sakura was alright than affected by her coldness.

"While you were all away. Her baby had an ear infection so I saw a lot of her. We were both sick of feeling  _useless_  so we helped each other out," Sakura explained. Kakashi noted the bitter edge to her voice and mentally winced.  _He_  should have been the one to help her.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said, meaning it. "You're right; we should have taken you more seriously."

"You're damn right! I half expected you to start reading your stupid book again. You let me make the seals and get behind you like that because you were taking my skills for granted." She blinked back the angry tears that she knew were forming. "I  _did_ fight you like a friend today. I played on your emotions by showing you a fallen comrade. You were wrong-footed; you froze up and became easy targets. If you had treated a real enemy the way you did today -if you hadn't come at them like you meant to kill them- you would be dead."

And without another word Sakura turned and stalked away, leaving the three shinobi to stand in guilty silence.


	2. Stress Relief

Sakura needed some way to relieve her stress. But when she trained by herself she didn't feel any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction. She needed a sparring partner; somebody willing to fight her, and fight her as an equal. Tsunade wouldn't have held back on her protégé, but she was currently too busy running the village to put her through her paces. Yet there had to be someone that would fight indiscriminately, and always give 100% of their strength. Someone who knew the pink hair wasn't the whole story, who could look past it to the tough-as-nails ninja she was.

When she realised who she knew that fought with that sort of fire (apart from Naruto), she felt foolish for not realising it sooner. Rock Lee was the perfect candidate; he had taijutsu skills that were frankly unmatched, and with his 'springtime of youth' philosophy he wouldn't disappoint. Plus, there was no way he could say no to Sakura, was there?

"Sakura!" Lee cried as she entered the warm doujo. His distraction meant his current partner, an older chunin, was able to land a hit to his jaw that looked painful, but he simply shrugged it off and dropped the guy on the floor with a series of quick strikes to the gut.  _This is exactly what I need,_ Sakura thought happily.

"Hi Lee," she waved as he left the man wheezing on the mat to come over to her.

"Sakura; to what do I owe the pleasure of your blossoming visage?' he asked, throwing a towel over his shoulder.

"Well you see, Lee," she began, purposefully ignoring his flowery language and increasingly hopeful expression, "I was actually here for a match."

"A match?" he repeated, as though the idea of somebody coming to a doujo looking for a fight was strange.

"Yeah; your sign says you'll fight anyone; and I'm anyone," she smiled.

"But you- I couldn't-" Lee stuttered, trying to organise the sudden barrage of thought and emotion this request had brought forth. "I couldn't fight you, Sakura," he was finally able to say.

Now it was Sakura's turn to be confused. "Why not? Why not me?"

"Because I said I'd protect you to the death," he told her, blushing in shame, "so I could never fight you properly."

That was unfair. Sakura tried not to speak angrily to the boy, who she knew was only trying to be kind. "But don't you think it would be better…  _protection_ for me if I train to fight? And you're the very best," she added, thinking flattery wouldn't hurt.

Lee certainly looked pleased with the compliment, tearing up and staring triumphantly into the distance. But when he looked at her again, his expression was guilty but resolved.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I know you need to train just like everyone else. But I know I couldn't fight you with all of my will. And it wouldn't be fair to you if I didn't." He remembered the time one of his opponents had changed their form to Sakura's and surrounded him with clones. Even though he knew it wasn't really her, he hadn't been able to bring himself to fight back. Affection was a weakness, he knew; but it didn't change the fact that he'd never be able to come at the pink-haired girl like he meant to kill her.

Sakura bit back the disappointment that she felt. It just wasn't fair; he hadn't asked her to like him, or love him, or whatever he thought he felt for her. Why did she have to be the only one in the world the green beast wouldn't fight?

"Thanks anyway Lee," she mumbled, turning and walking away out of the doujo, stepping over the other man as she went. And so yet another shinobi was left standing alone, guiltily watching her retreating back.

Sakura didn't head directly to the middle of the village. Instead she continued in a wide ring of the town outskirts where the doujo lay. Maybe she would eventually come across an enemy nin looking for a pounding. So she weaved through the trees, punching a few half-heartedly in passing, trying to remember the ninja code about showing emotion. She was so wrapped up in not letting herself be upset that her feet carried her all the way to the monument without her realising. Her carefully constructed façade of emotionlessness shattered when she realised whose solitude she had intruded upon and gasped aloud.

For there was Kakashi, whom along with Naruto and Sai she had been trying to avoid for the past few days following her outburst. He raised his head slightly and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Hey," he said calmly. Sakura blushed, embarrassed to see him so serene when she had been beating up the forest just a few minutes before.

"Hey," she replied, stepping up to the monument and kneeling down in respect for the fallen. She said a quick prayer in her head before standing and turning to Kakashi.

"Listen: I'm sorry about the other day," she began, resisting the urge to look down at her feet. Kakashi was still so quiet, she felt as though she might have insulted him worse than she thought. "I was frustrated, and I'm sorry that I took it out on you guys."

A moment passed, in which the jounin watched her carefully. "Feel better?" He finally asked.

"No," she replied truthfully.

"Didn't think so," he smiled wryly, finally looking away, "because you're not the one who should be apologising. I am."

Sakura's mouth opened in surprise. "You? What for?"

"You know exactly what for," he told her, though he didn't seem angry. "You were right about what you said. I  _did_  underestimate you, and it was wrong of me. Especially since you're not the ten year-old girl I used to have to run around protecting." He crinkled his eye at her and for a moment Sakura thought he would pat her head.

"Damn right I'm not that girl anymore. I am getting stronger every day, and if you don't start noticing that, if  _somebody_ doesn't start noticing that, then I'll never be seen as an equal." Once more the hot tears of frustration welled in her eyes, but she pushed them back forcefully.

"Sakura, people  _can_ see it," Kakashi reassured her, heart breaking at her expression.

"Tell that to Lee," she mumbled.

"Lee?" Kakashi was confused. "Rock Lee? Isn't he a meant to be madly in love with you? I'm sure he of all people sees what you've become."

"Then why won't he fight me?" The pink-haired girl's temper flared up once more, and she could hear herself shouting. "I went to his stupid doujo with its stupid sign saying he would fight  _anyone_ , and yet he still refused to fight  _me_!" She breathed out quickly.

Kakashi took a moment to process what she had said. "Lee wouldn't fight you?"

"No."

"Well then he's not as smart as I gave him credit for," Kakashi decided, before turning to leave.

"Kakashi-" Sakura cut in to stop him. "Would- would you fight me? You don't love me, so you can't hold back."

The jounin eyed her carefully. He knew that if he said no, then she would lose faith in herself and him forever. But if he said yes, he would have to fight her properly. He had done it once before, but Naruto had evened the sides considerably. He could try to justify it all he wanted, but he knew that he just found it…  _hard_  to get in the mindset of a hardened killer when he looked at that blossom-pink hair, or into those too-innocent eyes. Sometimes he thought even Sakura's true enemies found it difficult to come at her like they meant to kill her. But he knew in his heart that one of them would, one day, if he didn't help her now.

"…Okay."


	3. Chase Me

"Your mission is this: the retrieval of this document," he began, pulling out his beloved Icha Icha book with a wry smile, "is priority one. I'm an enemy nin, and if I get this book back to…" he thought for a moment, " _Lee's doujo_ , then I'll have the intel to destroy Konoha and everything you hold dear."

"You're going to destroy Konoha with porn?" Sakura asked, trying not to smile at the absurdity.

"Absolutely. This is a very corruptive influence, you know."

"I noticed," Sakura quipped.

"Oh, the carnage, the devastation this  _document_ could cause if it fell into the wrong hands," Kakashi looked away in mock distress. "There'll be blood in the streets. Crying babies, orphaned kittens… Do you want that on your conscience?"

Sakura covered her mouth to hide her soft chuckle. "Would you just start running already?"

"You never have any fun," Kakashi teased, tucking the book into his back pouch so Sakura could see. "You ready?" he asked her, before blurring away through the trees before she could answer. She knew that the point was to always be ready. Spinning on her heel, she took off after him.

She was matching his every step, but about six trees behind. Plunging her hand into her kunai pouch, she threw a handful of the heavy blades toward the place Kakashi would be standing when they landed. He dodged them all without even looking back at her. She gritted her teeth, determined to make him fight her. The chase was an important part of a ninja's life, but she wanted confrontation.

Changing her tactic, she used chakra to boost her off the branch. Not out, but down… She was swan-diving head-first into the very hard earth beneath her. At the last foreseeable second she swung her chakra-loaded fist out to break her fall. Gravity and her bizarre strength sent a shock-wave of energy through the earth, splitting the ground before her in two. It would catch Kakashi far quicker than she would at this rate.

The second Kakashi landed on the next branch he knew it felt different. The whole forest felt different, with vibrations making the tree shudder and jolt him forward. He was able to catch the next tree, but the wave had caught up with him and he was flung down to the churned-up ground. The tree's ear-splitting  _crack_ was the only warning he had before it toppled down after him. Just barely rolling free of the bigger branches, he brought his hands up to his face to protect his eye from the shower of twigs and woodland creatures that seemed to rain down upon him. He was completely free in less than a few seconds, but she was already there waiting for him.

His body switched immediately from flight to fight, as his right leg slid back to give leverage to his first blow.

"There was a family of birds living in that tree," he told her.

"I'll write them a letter," she dismissed, leaping toward him. He dodged her strike to his chest by swinging his body to the right. Then he used her momentum to send her flying back over his knee. She tumbled the landing as gracefully as she could, considering he had just thrown her into a fallen tree. Sakura no longer stood directly in his path, so he sprinted forward once more. He knew it was an honest fight she wanted, but he would make her work for it.

She was far closer now as she dogged Kakashi. He sprinted horizontally up the first tree trunk that wasn't still shaking and continued his zig-zagging leaps. There was no point wasting chakra on splitting the earth again when she was close enough to stop him herself. Following him into the trees she kept him close, desperate to keep the ground she had covered. Now it was his turn to throw projectiles, sending razor-sharp shuriken into his blind spot whenever he lost her in his peripherals.

She heard one of the metal stars sing as it flew past her head. Something bit into her thigh, but it only grazed her and kept going. To be honest, she was more worried that the first one hadn't sliced off a chunk of her hair.

They were almost at Lee's doujo, Sakura realised as she passed a familiar-looking bush. Her heart raced with the fear of losing, of being beaten without a proper fight. Sprinting through the trees was technically less energy-consuming than hand-to-hand combat, but it wasn't challenging to anticipate Kakashi's moves from one leap to the next, and the repetition was draining her. When a particularly thick branch came into view, Sakura aimed for it. The moment she landed she forced all of her chakra into her legs, springing out like one of Naruto's toads. The branch was strong, but she still felt it crack a little from the sheer force of her jump. A smaller branch would have fallen straight off and given her no force. As it was, she was hurtling for Kakashi, gloved fingers stretched out for his back pouch.

One moment Kakashi was staying just ahead of the 'enemy', with the doujo nearly in sight. The next, a massive impact on small of his back had literally knocked him off his feet. Sakura didn't have a good enough hold on his pouch to remove it, but she wasn't letting go of it either. He couldn't land safely with her grabbing him around his middle, and so he twisted his shoulders to bring his elbow down on her head and make her let go. It connected; he felt the impact jolt up through his entire arm, but her grip didn't loosen one bit. They hit the ground together in a graceless heap. Kakashi immediately stood up, dragging Sakura's dead weight with him.  _Damn she was stubborn._

Once she could get purchase with her feet, she charged forwards and drove Kakashi into the base of a tree. Either the pouch would break free, or the impact would stun him long enough to free it herself. Neither happened; Kakashi threw his weight back onto her, placing his feet onto the trunk to reverse their momentum. Sakura was forced to let go, though once again she stood between him and the doujo. The look in her eyes told him that if they didn't fight now, then she wouldn't stop even if they did reach it. It had been selfish of him to put it off anyway. It was a training exercise, in which showing off his superior speed wouldn't be helpful to her.

He made the first move this time, moving in with a simple kick. She brought her own leg up to protect her stomach, forced to take the impact in a poorly-balanced stance. She sucked in a quick breath as she wobbled backward, but did not fall. She immediately countered with a kunai-slash to the chest. The blade's edge barely tore the fabric of his jacket, but he still took a step back. Pulling out his own kunai, metal clashed against metal as they exchanged a series of blows and blocks. Kakashi expected Sakura's usual aggressive attitude and battle-cries, but the way she fought him now was strangely silent and intense. Her jade eyes burned into him as she dropped down on all fours to avoid his left hook and swung her legs under his to sweep him backward. Instead of trying to fight gravity, he arched his back as he fell, throwing back his hands to try to regain verticality in a simple back flip.

Just as his hands connected with the ground and he began to push himself upright once more, Sakura's own hand grabbed the front of his jacket and pushed him back down with enough force to knock the wind out of him and possibly break a rib. Her other hand drew back to hit him again, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and brought his knee up to her chest. The blow didn't have as much force from his current position on the ground, but it was enough to stun Sakura for a second. Pulling himself up, he threw her by her shoulders back onto the grass, then turned to run for the doujo.

Sakura wasn't as stunned as Kakashi thought, because she was able to snake out her hand and catch his left ankle before he could get away. He turned back see her lying on the ground, smiling innocently up at him. Kakashi smiled wryly before Sakura yanked his foot backward. Suddenly he was on one knee in a position somewhere between a chivalrous kneel and the splits. The mad waving of his arms in an attempt to keep his balance completed the absurd picture. Sakura let out a breath of laughter, scrambling to get up before he did. Then it was his turn to drag her back down, yanking back on her shirt and pulling himself up.

"Hey!" she cried as she was dumped back on her butt. She kicked him in the thigh and leapt up to tackle him round the middle. "Don't think you're getting away that easily!"

Kakashi was glad Sakura seemed to be enjoying herself again, even if it came at the expense of his health. They seemed to be taking it in turns tripping each other over now. Each time one of them tried to stand, the other would drag them back down. Kakashi tugged teasingly at a lock of Sakura's hair as she tried to pin him on his back.

"Looks like I got you with those shuriken after all, Sakura- _chan,_ " he teased as her eyes widened.

"If I'm missing even one hair, I'm gonna shave you when you sleep, Kakashi- _sensei,_ " she returned, trying to check her hair and keep him pinned at the same time. "You're just jealous that pink is nicer than grey."

"It's  _silver,_ " Kakashi pretended to complain, reaching up to grab a lock of his own hair. "See the amazing way it shimmers in the light?"

Sakura knew Kakashi was trying to cheer her up, and she was only slightly annoyed that it was working. She laughed at him, tilting her head as though trying to inspect his hair in the light.

"You're delusional, Kakashi."

Kakashi chuckled, and was about to say something clever back at her, or topple her off his chest (it was starting to become uncomfortable), when he was interrupted by the shout "Sakura-san! Kakashi-sensei! I could hear the youthful energy of your fight from my doujo! It makes me so happy to see you two putting all your effort into such a no-holds-barred battle!"

Sakura grimaced at Lee's 'youthful' outburst as Kakashi laughed quietly. "And here's my back-up," he said as he picked himself up and checked he was all there. Truthfully, their battle had been far from 'no-holds-barred' in the end; they were having too much fun joking around to continue fighting as intensely as they had been.

Kakashi held out his hand to help Sakura stand and she took it, checking herself the same way Kakashi had. She would be black and blue by tomorrow, but that was nothing new. She had a few cuts here and there, but as long as she cleaned them they wouldn't even need chakra to heal perfectly. She cast her medic's eye over Kakashi too, knowing he hated hospitals so much that even if he  _were_  injured he probably wouldn't say anything about it. He saw her looking and winked, standing straighter so she could see he was okay. She didn't think she'd broken any of his ribs after all, so she turned to Lee instead.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper at you before," she told him, lowering her head and looking at him meekly through her lashes. She thought she heard Kakashi snigger, but Lee seemed satisfied.

"No Sakura-san, the fault is all mine! I shouldn't have held back with you!" He was eager to convince her that things were okay between them, and as she was in a better mood she was happy to accept it. She smiled at him, before raising her hand to both shinobi.

"Well, I guess I should be getting home now," she told them, glancing at the lowering sun. "See you, Lee. Kakashi," she began, leaning forward and solemnly shaking his hand, "Better luck next time."

She grinned and disappeared into the trees before Kakashi could comment on her audacity. She may have done well, but she hadn't won. Her mission was to get his Icha Icha book off him, and it was still safe in his-

He froze as he felt in his kunai pouch and didn't come across anything book-shaped. Then he laughed ruefully, snapping the pouch shut and rubbing his hand over his eye. The confused and slightly alarmed look on Lee's face only made him laugh harder.

" _Oh, I am going to kill her…"_


	4. Left

" _Do you really love me?" she asked, as the strap of her dress fell another inch._

" _Of course I do," he replied, hands cupping her elbows with an intensity that made her tingle all over._

" _How much do you love me?" her breathless voice filled his head with white noise, and his vision blurred momentarily, until the only colour he could see was the red of her gown._

" _Let me show you…"_

Sakura slammed the book down with a thump on her kitchen table. God only knew why she had started reading it in the first place. In many ways Kakashi's Icha Icha books had become as great a curiosity as the face beneath his mask. When they trained in the early days of Team Seven, she had always wondered what was so great about the novels that he paid more attention to them than his teammates. Now having read almost half of one, she had to agree they were pretty good- perhaps not the epic literature the silver-haired jounin made them out to be, but they  _were_  funny in parts. The plot was better than she expected too, though she always put it down before things got too risqué.

Cheeks slightly pinker than usual, she tucked the book into her own pouch and headed out the door. Sakura had been summoned to the Hokage's office for a mission, which meant that Kakashi would undoubtedly be there too. She had spent all of last night paranoid that the man would break into her house or something equally extreme in order to get the book back. She planned to give it back straight after the de-briefing; otherwise the mission would no doubt be far more trouble than it was worth.

Tsunade regarded her from over the top of one of the endless pieces of paperwork needing to be signed. "Sakura-chan. Now that you're here, we can begin."

The pink-haired girl realized that for the first time, she was the last to arrive. Technically she wasn't late, but her ex-sensei, who usually set the benchmark for lateness, was freakishly early. She was almost afraid to meet his eye, especially since he seemed to be almost  _too_ happy to see her. She ignored his sinisterly-friendly wave, moving to stand on the other side of the room near Naruto.

"It seems there's been some trouble in the Crane Country. People have been disappearing without a trace, from local children to the few leaf-nin that were stationed there at the time. The townspeople are beginning to suspect that those men may be responsible, either for drawing the attention of a formidable enemy, or-"

"-committing the crimes themselves," Sai finished for her.

"Exactly. Hence you must tread carefully. The Crane's feudal lord is the one that hired us, and he is one of the only people who do not suspect the Hidden Leaf of foul play. He is very generously offering us the chance to clear our reputation and retrieve our men, but to do so as Konoha shinobi would be… unwise."

"So we're going incognito?" Sakura asked.

"In-cog-nee-toh?" Naruto looked confused. "That sounds dirty, Sakura-chan."

"Idiot! It means 'undercover'," she told him as she cuffed him around the ears. "We're going to have to leave our Konoha forehead protectors behind."

"I'm afraid so. Unfortunately Kakashi, your team has developed something of a reputation beyond our own village, so it will be difficult to hide your identities. But due to the sensitive information our missing nin hold, this is an A-rank mission and you are the best team we have available at the moment. Naruto and Kakashi, you will just have to get creative about changing your appearance."

Sakura blinked quickly to smooth the disappointment off her face. Of course it was just Kakashi and Naruto with the reputations. She was only the  _Hokage's apprentice_  after all…

You will be posing as civilian travelers at first, to try to get the locals to open up to you. Knowledge is power, so try not to blow this cover until you have enough information about what you're facing. Here is your scroll. You leave as soon as possible. Is there anything else?"

"Just one thing, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said cheerfully as he turned to Sakura. "I lent Sakura a book yesterday that I'd like back."

Sakura wished she could have sunk into the floor. Kakashi held out his hand expectantly, and she knew she'd have to hand it over in front of everyone. What would Tsunade think? At the moment the Hokage seemed annoyed that Kakashi was wasting her time doing this in her office, but if Sakura stalled any more, annoyance could quickly turn to something more dangerous.

"This could've waited, Kakashi," she scowled as she unbuckled her pouch and grabbed the stupid book. Cheeks burning, she shoved it into Kakashi's hand with a look that expressed her thoughts without needing to use offensive language in front of the Hokage.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," he eye-crinkled as he tucked the orange book into his own pocket. He knew his own reputation would be slightly marred by his seeming to lend porn novels to women half his age, but the fact that he had been reading said novels in public for the past few years suggested he didn't really care about appearances anyway. But he knew Sakura did, and that she shame of seeming like a pervert in front of her shishou would teach her a valuable lesson about underestimation. She wanted to be treated like an equal…

Naruto was actually wise enough not to say anything, though he did look like he was trying hard to stifle a laugh as they all left Tsunade's office and went their separate ways. He wondered if Kakashi had planted it on her to break the uneasiness within the group. He also wondered if this would have repercussions on their mission, but he knew Sakura and Kakashi were  _far_ too mature to let  _that_ happen…

They were to assemble ten minutes later outside the giant double gates of Konoha, after preparing their outfits and packs and making sure their houses wouldn't fall into ruin in their absence. Though Sakura didn't really need to change her appearance as much as the others, she still thought her outfit was too…  _ninja_ to be appropriate for the mission. The first thing to go was her beloved medic skirt, which was replaced with a pair of tan Bermuda shorts that would serve her well in the marshlands of the Crane Country. Instead of her favourite red shirt, she wore a long-sleeved green one that did not bear the Haruno clan insignia. She had seen travelers wearing ones just like it before, and it would help protect her arms against bug bites. The hardest bit was removing her forehead protector and leaving it in the drawer beside her bed. She decided to wear her hair up in a short ponytail so that the change wouldn't feel so obvious to her.

Before she left her apartment, she opened and closed the blinds twice in quick succession. It was a signal for her new neighbour that her team was about to leave on a mission if she wanted to say goodbye to everyone. Sakura knew she'd probably see her at the gate.

"You're late again, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, grinning.

"Idiot! I'm not late, Kakashi's still- Oh my god what happened to your face?" Sakura's mouth opened in horror at the deep black scars that marked the blond's face. Not the ones that had always been there, but the new ones that slashed through them vertically right down to his right jaw and criss-crossed on his chin. He even had an Iruka-type scar across the bridge of his nose. In short, he looked terrible.

"Don't I look great? Sai did it for me," Naruto declared proudly. Sakura looked to Sai for a sensible reason why he would willingly slice his teammate's face.

"It's fake," he told her simply. Sakura's heartbeat slowed but her confusion remained. "Naruto's original scar things on his cheeks are apparently rather recognizable, so we thought it would be easier to add more over them rather than try to make them go away." Sai gave one of his rare smiles of true amusement. "Thank you for proving how convincing it is, Sakura-san."

Sakura was about to retort when a voice behind her shouted "Wait!" They turned to see Hinata barreling towards them, cheeks burning and chest heaving. As she drew level she stopped to catch her breath, clutching several small parcels wrapped in a purple scarf. Once she could speak again, she bowed forward to the other ninja, extending the gift.

"I was so worried I wouldn't catch you in time, she told them, sneaking a furtive glance at Naruto's shocking new scars.

"They're fake," he explained, grinning and accepting her present.

"Oh, I know. I checked them with my byakugan as I was running. Um, those are sweet biscuits I just finished making. I thought you might like them for your trip." Her cheeks still burned scarlet in the jinchuuriki's presence, but she was getting better at making audible conversation with him.

"I'm sure they're very good, Hinata-san," Kakashi said politely as he  _poofed_ into existence before them, "But I'm afraid Naruto's not going to be able to enjoy them if he's executed for being a Konoha citizen." The others stared at his bizarre statement. He sighed and looked pointedly at Naruto's forehead- where his forehead protector still remained.

Naruto's face fell. "Oops, I knew I forgot something…" he untied the symbol of patriotism with due reverence, folding the fabric carefully. "Just give me one second to run home and I'll put it-"

"We don't have time, Naruto. Just give it to Hinata-san; she'll look after it," Kakashi cut him off, turning and heading out.

Naruto dropped the hitai-ate into Hinata's trembling hand, giving her a grateful look. "Thanks, Hinata-chan. I'll take you out for ramen or something when I get back." Missing her paralysed expression, the boy clapped Sai on the shoulder and sprinted of after Kakashi.

Sakura watched him go with amusement, before turning to the frozen girl with a smirk.

"You got my message then?"

"Ye-yes," she stammered, staring at the strip of black fabric in awe.

"Be sure and look after that. It's important to him; he wouldn't have left it with just anyone, you know."

As the girls went their separate ways, Sakura wished Naruto too could have glimpsed Hinata's suddenly radiant, hopeful smile.

Perhaps then he would get a clue.


	5. Right

The journey to the Crane Country was as uneventful as it was long. At first they were making good time, flitting through the trees as they usually did. But as they got closer to their destination, the need to keep a low profile meant they were forced to slow down and start walking along the road. The humidity seemed to increase with every mile they travelled, and even Naruto's over-excited feet began to drag after a while. The people they passed were all families; harassed-looking mothers dragging petulant children, fathers and husbands glancing nervously at the team. Everybody seemed to be travelling in the opposite direction to them, and Kakashi got the sinking feeling that they were fleeing.

By the second day of walking like civilians Naruto and Sai's bickering was no longer amusing, and the Great Copy-nin was bored out of his mind. He had recited the entire Shinobi Code in his head three times already, and was just about to check that his hidden weapons were still hidden when he realised something. He kept his various pouches and holsters on him at all times, even in the village, and each weapon was always battle-ready. He had been fully-armed when summoned to Hokage tower to receive the mission, and hadn't bothered doing anything more to his appearance than removing his flak jacket and forehead protector and replacing them with a simple cotton jacket and a strip of bandage to cover his eye. He hadn't thought of removing the book.

Fishing it out from beneath the folds of fabric, he opened it to a random page and began to read.

'… _Hideki leaned toward Sayuri as she turned to greet the newcomer, catching the smallest, most teasing breath of her floral perfume…'_

Something was different. Kakashi's imagination was usually quite good when it came to the novels' 'colourful' imagery, but he had never been able to imagine the exact aroma of Sayuri's perfume before. Hence, he suspected it was his superior sense of actual smell that was being piqued instead. He held the novel closer to his face and took an experimental whiff. It was obvious now that he knew it was there. At the corner of every page was a familiar scent, as though that person had left a finger mark turning them over.

He grinned beneath his mask. He hadn't expected her to actually  _read_ the thing. He continued to flick through until he could no longer detect that Sakura had touched the paper. She'd gotten quite far in the few hours it had been in her possession. The fact that she seemed to have stopped before one of the more…  _climactic_ scenes didn't surprise him either. She had matured a lot over the years she had known him, but her transformation had been so marred by intense training and devastating loss that she had been too distracted to notice those men that had begun to notice  _her_. Life as a ninja was crippling to one's perception of intimacy. He glanced in her direction and noted that her ears were turning the colour of her hair and she was determined not to look in his direction. He chuckled to himself and began to read where she had left off.

'" _Do you really love me?"'_

The Crane Country was tiny compared to Konoha, and was almost entirely marshland. The trees and mud and bugs were such a natural defence for the village resting in its centre that there had never been any need for local ninja. Instead, the civilians made a tidy profit by providing a safe outpost for the ninja of other countries sharing its border. The village itself was suspended over the mud by stilts with narrow bamboo bridges connecting each building. There was only one proper entrance to the raised village, and it was here that Team Kakashi had to bluff their way through by claiming refugee status; ninja had been refused entry until further notice following the disappearance of Konoha's men with several children and other villagers. The guards gave them a strangely pitying look, as though whatever war-torn land they had come from would be better than the Crane Village, but waved them through anyway.

"First things first," Kakashi told them once they were past. "We have to find an inn that has a bar." Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, who shrugged. "It's the best place to get information, that's all."

The pub's name was The Rocking Horse, and a worn-out replica of its namesake hung from a sturdy chain above the door. Sakura felt every single eye follow them over to the bar, and linger long after they had sat down and ordered drinks from the hairy bartender.

Kakashi acted cheerful despite the suspicion, drinking deeply from his cup and talking loudly to nobody in particular about what a nice place it seemed.

"You don't want to go drawing attention to yourself like that," someone murmured beside him.

Kakashi turned to find the stool to his right, which had previously been vacant, now occupied by a grizzled old man with hair the colour of dishwater. He was puffing on a long wooden pipe and watching the jounin disapprovingly.

"I'm just trying to make friends," Kakashi replied, feigning ignorance. "What's so wrong about that?"

The man huffed, blowing bluish smoke in his face. "What's so  _wrong_ is that round here, unwanted attention can get you killed. Something's happened to this village, and if you don't keep your head down you'll be the next to go."

"Go? Go where?" Kakashi asked, trying not to inhale the lethal-looking smoke.

The old man leaned in conspiratorially. "Nobody knows. People are simply vanishing; all kinds of people, from small children to hardened farmers to common maids."

"And nothing connects the victims?" Kakashi whispered like a fascinated tourist.

" _Nothing_." The man seemed to be enjoying the attention, waving his pipe theatrically toward a shadowy corner of the pub. A man was hissing angrily at a woman whilst another man watched on, stone-faced. It was to him that Kakashi was directed. "See him? His brother was taken just the other night. His newborn was up with a fever, and when his wife went to check them the baby was on the floor and he was just… gone." Kakashi watched the brother take a slow, numb sip from his drink, continuing to stare without really seeing anything.

Sakura, however, was watching the couple. She had been sitting far enough from Kakashi that the stranger paid her no heed, but close enough that she could easily hear their conversation. However, that shadowy corner of the bar had captured her attention long before it had been mentioned. The couple's whispered argument was like shouting to a ninja's ears, and she didn't like the way the brutish man was gripping the blonde woman's arm. She was more of a girl, really; she didn't really look much older than the kunoichi herself, but her mouth was harder and her eyes duller than a civilian that age should have. Nevertheless Sakura knew she wasn't an enemy threat; her pre-mature ageing had come from something that in some ways was much crueller.

The man she assumed was the blonde's lover tightened his hold, causing both girls to yelp; one with pain, the other empathy. He leaned in close, blowing a strand of hair with his breath. "Listen to me, you sorry tart: if you don't stop behaving like a spoiled brat and start showing some gratitude for the  _kindness_  I've shown you, then I'll throw you back in the whore pits where you belong. But before then, I'll make sure you can never trick another man with that pretty little face of yours…" he raised his free hand to stroke her cheek, and when she jerked her head away from him, changed it to a slap.

The dull  _smack_ rang through the bar like the toll of a bell, and for a moment silence reigned. Sakura was across the floor and gripping the man's wrist before she realised she had stood at all. A small, compartmentalised area of her brain knew that her low profile was rising by the second, but a much larger, louder part was screaming for her to break the bastard's hand. The blonde was gazing fearfully between the two while her partner took a moment for the unexpected interruption to sink in. When he realised that the girl grasping his wrist was doing so to stop him, he almost seemed amused. His eyes raked over her hard body and exotic hair, and every time he let his gaze linger on some feature the pressure on his arm increased slightly. By the time he looked her in the eye it actually took most of Sakura's willpower not to put any chakra behind her grip.

"Ah, sorry for my friend here," a silver-haired figure had arrived in Sakura's peripherals and was talking to the man, "poor Sakura's been on the road for a while, and would lash out at anyone."

The big man turned to the jounin and looked him over like he had done before. Kakashi had his arms raised defensively, playing the peaceful traveller. Beneath the apologetic façade was a look of faint annoyance, and Sakura was miffed to realise that it was directed at her.

"So your name's Sakura," the other man mused, putting a name to her face and liking the combination. He kicked his stool away and rose to his proper height, grinning down at the feisty girl. Her body tensed intuitively.

A gloved hand clamped down on her own, forcing her to obey. She refused to look Kakashi in the eye as he continued to hold on even after she had let the abusive man go. The man in question rubbed his freed wrist despite himself, giving Sakura an arrogant smile.

"You're lucky your boyfriend's here,  _girly_ ," he drawled, "'cause I don't take kindly to people threatening me; even ones that look as sweet as you."

"Oh  _thank you,_ sir," Kakashi fawned. "She  _is_ sweet, but she gets these silly ideas in her head sometimes and does things that get her into trouble. Tell the nice man you're sorry, Sakura-chan."

The injustice of it all felt like a punch in the stomach that left you doubled-over and wheezing. She knew Kakashi was just playing a role really, but it still hurt that someone she trusted so completely wasn't taking her side. That the noblest man she knew would happily stand by and do nothing to defend the helpless blonde. That he would say aloud the thing that had secretly haunted her for years; she could only ever get into trouble. She stared back at the horrible man, grateful that there were no tears to blur her vision as she burnt his face and chakra signature into her memory. Then she took a deep breath and forced herself to look meek as she spoke those two repugnant words, keeping their cover at the price of her self-concept.

" _I'm sorry_."

Introductions had followed and a round of placating drinks was bought for the whole bar. Sakura had sat in the corner with Naruto and Sai, letting Kakashi do all the wheel-greasing and intelligence-collecting by himself. She had been determined not to show any emotion, but she couldn't help the hurt look she gave her ex-sensei when he glanced over to them once. Naruto explained that he had stood to go over and help her but Kakashi had beaten him to it. He agreed that Sakura had done the right thing about the blonde girl, who was now sitting in a similarly depressed state as the big man shared in another round. Sai was typically silent, but Sakura knew he would probably side with Kakashi.

The sun was well below the horizon when Kakashi rented a suite upstairs for his team to stay in. The second the innkeeper had left the room, Sakura rounded on the jounin.

"What the hell was that?" she asked him, green eyes blazing.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he responded calmly, "You almost completely blew our cover back there."

"Did you  _hear_ what that bastard was saying to her? Did you  _see_ the way he touched her? It was-"

" _Yes,_ Sakura, I saw it. But did you hear Tsunade brief us about this mission? Did you understand how important it is that we succeed in finding our men and those people? We are ninja. We can't put one life over another's because of our feelings. We live for the mission." He didn't like telling her off in front of the others, but knew it would be worse if he took her aside like some misbehaving child after class.

Sakura stood firm. "But do you think it right? To stand by when we have the power to do something about it? He  _hit_ her, Kakashi. She was unprotected and helpless and half his size, and he  _hit_ her. I wasn't going to blow our cover if I could help it, but I wasn't going to sit idly by and let it happen in front of me either."

"Sakura," Kakashi's tone changed from lazy old sometimes-friend who read books and was late to everything, to elite, ex-ANBU jounin commander who was used to giving an order and having it obeyed. "Right and wrong are so far removed from anything a ninja does that they start to become the meaningless words they are. I know you understand how a person's feelings can be manipulated against them, so I am warning you now; don't let them show. Follow the mission and don't risk your focus on one girl who won't appreciate your help anyway." He breathed a deep sigh before taking his bedroll and setting it out on his tatami mat. "You're on the second shift after Sai. Then Naruto."

He then removed the strip of bandage over his eye and lay down, perfectly immobile. Naruto gave an apologetic shrug and followed suit.

Sakura continued standing for a moment before walking over to her own mat and lying down. It took a lot longer for her to fall asleep than it did for the other two, and it felt like no sooner had she closed her eyes than Sai was gently prodding her awake for her turn on watch. The quiet boy was as close to glad as he could be to see that the kunoichi seemed calmer and even smiled at him before taking up sentry. Perhaps it would be okay after all.

Sakura waited, mulling over the events of the day. Had it really been just this morning that Kakashi had pulled out that book and made her blush? She felt different now that she was here in the Crane Village, as though the mud were seeping into her and making everything grey. The only way to retain any colour now was to rebel. And so when her turn on watch came to an end, she grabbed a bundle of cloth and threw it out the window, before biting her thumb and making a series of seals with her bloodied fingers. She finished by pressing her thumb to the wall in front of her, leaving a perfect red imprint. The moment she moved from that position it was like having an out-of-body experience. She watched herself lean over and tap Naruto on the back. The boy groaned, opening his eyes and seeing nothing but the one girl.

"Time to go on watch," the genjutsu whispered, before slipping into Sakura's bed and appearing to go to sleep. The jinchuuriki rubbed his eyes and sat up, oblivious to the real Sakura sneaking past him and slipping, invisible, out the window. Landing on the ground two storeys down, she took up the handful of cloth she had thrown and checked to make sure nobody was looking out the windows.

"Sorry Kakashi," she whispered to the night, "but I don't want those words to become meaningless."


	6. Play

Sakura knew she only had until the bloody fingerprint faded to get her man.

This genjutsu was consuming far more chakra than the watered-down version she had created in the forest. She decided only to put Naruto under by tapping him when he went on watch. It would mean she would have to return before his watch was over; but it bought her far more time than trying to sustain it while it was extended to the other two.

She did not have the chakra-sensing ability to be able to find that rough man anywhere in the village, but The Rocking Horse did a late trade for people unwilling to leave for home after the sun had gone down. Considering locked doors did not seem to deter the abductors this did not seem like much protection, but the innkeeper was not going to turn away paying customers at  _any_  hour. This also meant that most of the people Kakashi had socialised with that evening were still downstairs, the target man included. Sakura could hear him even from outside.

Her original plan had been to simply lie in wait until the man walked out the door. But that would take too long, and her genjutsu would dissipate and leave an empty bed long before she could finish the job and get back to it. Her revised plan would use more chakra at a faster rate, but it was more direct and in many ways more poetic. She donned the hooded travelling cloak and scarf she had thrown from the window, using them to cover her hair and most of her face. In the dark of the night she was completely unrecognisable.

But that was only preparation for the later part of her plan. A final layer of disguising needed to be added, and it was this that would eat up her precious chakra reserves. Wrapping an illusion around herself, she felt her physical appearance waver and transform. Suddenly her breathing no longer felt impaired by the heavy scarf over her mouth. It was still technically there, but the henge's skimpy dress was the only thing she could physically feel on her body. She took a moment before entering the bar to check her new appearance. Her short pink hair had been replaced with jet curls that any woman would envy, and her body had grown in certain places to become more… 'feminine.'

Usually it was easier to create a henge based on someone you had seen before, or else adapt your own basic appearance. That was why Naruto had whisker-shaped scars on his cheeks even when he was pretending to be a girl. But though Sakura had never seen a person that looked like the woman she had become, she couldn't take full credit for her either. She was Sayuri from Kakashi's  _Icha-Icha_ book; or at least how Sakura had interpreted her. Satisfied, she pushed the door open and scanned the building.

The man was still in his corner, but a larger crowd had accumulated around him. Though the self-imposed curfew was mostly a safety precaution, there were many people (mostly men) that saw it as a great opportunity to find themselves stranded in a building that served alcohol with a legitimate excuse not to leave it. Many of the patrons at that late hour were men, and almost all of them turned to watch Sakura stalk to the bar and gracefully take a seat.

She knew it was a stupid idea that could very quickly backfire. She could overestimate how much chakra she was expending on the genjutsu upstairs, and her disguise could slip right there in the bar. She would be exposed as a ninja and most likely attacked out of suspicion. Or her plan could work too well, and she could waste the next half-hour fending off cocksure young men that had spent all night fuelling their ego with alcohol. She gave a quick but easily-interpreted glance at her target to help move things in the right direction.

The man responded immediately. Used to getting whatever and whoever he wanted, he immediately took the cue from the beautiful stranger and stood to go over to her. His blonde escort tried to make him stay but he waved away her hand. The stranger at the bar murmured something to the bartender, who produced a bottle of sake and two cups.  _Two._ He grinned at the lady's invitation as his former drinking companions leered. When he reached the stool beside her she slid one cup across, already full.

"I'm Kuma," the man told her, radiating machismo.

"Well Kuma, I hoped you would join me for a nightcap before I went home." Sakura purred, hating herself for being so flirtatious with such an abhorrent man.

"You know, you shouldn't be out on the streets at this late hour," the man told her, drinking deeply from his cup. "A pretty girl like you, all alone? Anything could happen."

"Well I don't live too far from here," she replied coyly, "and I  _would_  like to get back to my nice, warm bed." Sakura was practically quoting Jiraiya's book word-for-word. She knew she would never have been able to pull something like this off if she hadn't read it beforehand; she was just too innocent to have acted convincingly.

Kuma, to his credit, was playing his own part perfectly. "Well I'm sure there's a room upstairs with a bed just as nice. And if you like, I can even help warm it for you. He slid his hand toward her, and Sakura had to think of nicer things to pretend his touch didn't offend her sensibilities.

She was beginning to think this whole angry vendetta against the horrible man was a little out of her league.

Somewhere upstairs, a ninja was stirring. Kakashi had woken too early for his shift, and was trying to work out why. He looked up at Naruto to check that he was alright and had not signalled some kind of trouble. The boy was leaning against the wall, head occasionally nodding downwards before springing up guiltily.

"Hey, sensei," he said quietly, "did I wake you?"

"No," Kakashi replied, frowning, "I don't think you did." He glanced to his side before freezing in place. "Where's Sakura?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto whispered confusedly. "She's right there." He pointed to her empty sleeping bag and raised his eyebrows at the jounin.

Kakashi saw the belief in Naruto's eyes, and quickly put two and two together. He allowed the panic to subside slightly. If she had put a genjutsu on Naruto, then she had probably left willingly.

"When did you start the watch, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Sakura only woke me up about ten minutes ago. That's why I wondered if I'd woken you." He had stopped looking at Kakashi like he was crazy for not seeing Sakura, which was a blessing.

"Oh no, you didn't wake me at all," he shook his silver head. "I just can't seem to sleep for some reason. Do you mind if I take your shift? There's no point in us both being awake now."

Naruto gratefully accepted and dove into his bed, snoring quietly within seconds. Kakashi watched his and Sai's deep, even breaths, and felt Sakura's cold blanket. Then he performed some quick seals and slipped out the window as well.

Sakura was seriously considering just sprinting out the front door and back into her safe warm bed. The man was getting too confident about his success with women (which Sakura knew she had probably encouraged with her clichéd flirting), and was insisting upon them getting a room upstairs. Sakura would be one of the first to say that gender had nothing to do with being a good ninja; but sitting there, faced with the thought of getting a room with the man, she had never felt less like a soldier and more like a girl.

"Uh- wouldn't your- um,  _girlfriend_ \- have a problem with that?" Sakura asked, glancing back at the wispy blonde and feeling terrible for dragging her into the very thing she had been trying to save her from.

Kuma shrugged his massive shoulders. "She answers to me, not the other way around. But if you like," he leaned in so that Sakura could smell the sake on his breath, "she could join us. I don't believe in the word 'girlfriend' anyway."

"But I do." A male voice spoke up beside the pair. A man with spiky black hair and pale brown eyes had walked over and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Sakura's henge almost dissolved with the fear that she would now have to deal with  _two_ keen men, but she felt a reassuring squeeze from the newcomer that gave it strength.

"And who the hell are you?" the first man snapped, eyeing the familiar way he handled the woman.

"Hideki," the man replied, smiling. "I'm Sayuri's husband."

Sakura nearly choked. She'd never seen this man before in her life, and now he was claiming to be her husband. For an irrational second she thought she must have transformed herself to look like the stranger's wife, but she knew her appearance was completely based on a fictional character. Her only conclusion was that the man was trying to give her an exit.

"Darling," she said after too long a pause, "what are you doing here?"

"Well,  _sweetheart_ ," he replied, "when you didn't come home I was worried something had happened to you. You shouldn't be out this late at night, you know."

Sakura didn't need to fake the guilty look that spread across her face. If the genjutsu failed upstairs, Naruto would be panicked out of his mind to find her bed suddenly empty.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, looking down. Kuma harrumphed.

"Oh of course, how rude of me," the new man smacked his forehead sheepishly. Extending his hand he said, "Thanks for looking after Sayuri here. I'd hate to ever lose her."

Sakura caught Hideki's eye for a second and was surprised to see the honesty there. Perhaps she was making the wrong choice letting this man lead her away.

But before she knew it she was outside once more and heading around the corner. If Hideki turned out to be a psycho she could always do to him what she had been denied the chance to do to Kuma. But even though they were soon well out of eye and ear-shot of the bar, she didn't run from him.

Finally, she broke the silence. "Thanks for your help back there."

Hideki paused mid-step. "Any time."

"But you know, I didn't really need your help," she continued. "I knew what I was doing."

The man's mouth opened in a little 'o' of surprise, before a bark of laughter burst from it. Sakura blushed with indignation as the man continued to chortle at her.  _I'm wearing the most confident, femme-fatale disguise and yet I_ still _radiate innocence like a goddamn light bulb?_

"It's not funny. That guy was a creep, and I wasn't about to go  _anywhere_  with him that would end in  _anything_  he would find pleasant." She gritted her teeth at the memory of the man's touch.

The stranger's expression softened at her own hardened one. "But he didn't hurt you at all; not really. So why bother with that creep in the first place?"

"Because that's who I am. As a woman, I could see the way his 'lover' flinched every time he looked her way. And as a med-  _nurse_ , I could see that her bones have been broken before and allowed to set poorly." She had almost said 'medic' before substituting it with something less militaristic.

Kazuma sighed sadly. "I didn't know. You should have said something."

"I just did," she replied confusedly, before a shout caught her attention. There was Kuma, the man she had wanted to get on his own since she had met him, striding toward the pair that had humiliated him in front of his friends.

Sakura grinned, eyes uncharacteristically predatory. She almost looked like Naruto in his demon fox cloak. Hideki watched her for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder and turning her to face him.

"Go teach him how to set bones properly," he said. Sakura nodded. "But hey; remember the code for dealing with a civilian." Sakura's body tensed as her eyes whipped back to Hideki. He just pressed a knowing finger to his lips before melting into the shadows without a trace.

Kakashi thought Sakura would have figured it out straightaway. It was far too convenient for some random man to just rush in and help her like that. Hell, he had even called her by the name he knew she would have adopted (he really had to commend her henge no jutsu; it was a perfect depiction of Sayuri from Jiraiya's books). But Sakura's usually brilliant instincts were obviously being dedicated entirely to her vile target. He had swooped in and whisked her away and even chatted with her without her suspecting a thing about his true identity. He was just going to punish her for her disobedience and send her back to bed, but instead with one sentence he had let her go. Because he knew he had to let her be what she was: a healer. In this case, that meant she needed to break a few bones first.

It would take only four minutes for Kakashi to see something that would make him regret this decision; something that made him sprint back to the alley as fast as he possibly could.

"Tease!" Kuma yelled at the woman who had left him at the bar, who was still teasing him by standing there with her back to him, alone in the shadows of the alley. "Perfect," he leered, pulling her round to face him.

But it wasn't the brunette from the bar. She was shorter, for one thing. And her clothes had changed; her face was now so heavily covered that he could barely tell she was female anymore.

"Who are you?" he asked, nonplussed.

The girl looked up at him with laughing eyes, clearly enjoying his confusion.

"Me?" she asked, "I'm the Ghost of Lovers Passed. Are you scared?" Before he could reply he was on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

"You  _bitch,_ " he wheezed.

"Don't worry; you will be," she muttered, cracking her knuckles.

Sakura wiped the blood from her cheek with dignified revulsion. In truth, she had barely touched the man; preferring to use words over fists. As he squirmed on the ground, she continued to speak in a low, composed voice about exactly why he was being punished. But apparently he was a bleeder as well as a coward, because the one blow she had landed to his nose had made him gush like a fountain. Horrified at the sight of his own blood, the brute had broken down into alternating wails of fear and pleas for mercy. Sakura was not like many other ninjas, who took enjoyment from inflicting their superior strength and skill on a weaker opponent. And so even though this man was entirely repugnant, she was satisfied with breaking his pride instead of his neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he kept repeating through his swollen jaw. Sakura knelt down slowly to his level, ignoring the blood on her knees.

"Sorry for what?" she pressed calmly.

"For… hurting… women," he mumbled, eyes fixed down at his meaty hands.

"And will you ever do it again?" she asked, dangerously quiet.

He shook his head vigorously.

"Good," she told him, patting him hard on the back. Because if you do, I will make sure you get everything back tenfold." Then she gave his right forearm a squeeze; which might have seemed kindly if she had not broken it in the process. He howled.

"You stay away from him, you bitch!" a cry from the other end of the street made the kunoichi look up. "You leave him alone!"

"Wha-?" Sakura was confused. It was the blonde waif from the bar; the very girl she had done all this to avenge. And now the look of defiant fear on her face was not directed at the man who had broken her arm, but the strange girl who had made him feel remorse for it. The kunoichi bit back her bitter disappointment as the woman approached. Kakashi had been right; it was too late to save women like her.

"Okay, okay," she stood, arms held up to show her peaceful intent. "I'm not going to hurt you- or him- I promise." The blonde continued to come forward, watching her with slightly hysterical caution. Her boyfriend spat a mouthful of blood on the ground. "Listen, you're fine, I'm just-"

And that was all Sakura could say before she was blinded by a harsh blue light…


	7. Blue

The blue light seemed to come from all over, and for a moment Sakura was completely disoriented. She pressed her hand against the wall of the alley, slowly feeling her way along. Apparently the light made her deaf as well as blind, because even the sound of her own breathing became faint and muffled. It was as though somebody had detonated an explosive tag nearby, leaving her shell-shocked. Suddenly her left foot snagged on something and she was pitched forward. Instincts kicked in just in time to save her nose from being broken, but not soon enough to prevent grazing both her arms. To her relief, the jolt from the impact brought her senses flooding back. The light was still there, but it had subsided to the point that she would be able to see through it once her night-vision returned. Her hearing had also returned to full capacity; but the noise that met her ears almost made her wish it hadn't.

Someone was screaming, and Sakura could tell it was the blonde woman. She tried desperately to locate the sound, but it was echoing off the alley walls around her. Something squeezed her leg, and she yelped despite herself. What she had thought was just a crack in the pavement was actually the man Kuma, lying prone on the ground. His breathing was ragged and his expression terrified as he clung weakly to her boot. Sakura hastily shook her leg free and scrambled back from the giant. His mouth opened and closed as though he was trying to say something, but she couldn't make it out over the nearby shrieking.

Then, with a horrible gurgling noise the screams suddenly cut off. Kuma gave a small moan of dread as the eerie light began to take physical form. It looked like a huge animal, bent on all fours and bathed in blue. It turned its head and Sakura gave a cry of understanding and pity. It was clear now why the screams had been silenced; the beast had swallowed the woman whole. Her body was suspended in the creature's, travelling slowly toward the centre. Sakura wasn't sure if she was dead or merely unconscious, but either way she was beyond help. Sakura could see another body beside hers, much smaller by comparison but with very long hair. Both were doomed, and Sakura's only chance to escape sharing their fate was to run.

She began to sprint down the alley away from Kuma and the creature. With a low growl it sprang after her. Stopping to pick up the petrified man in its mouth, the blue beast bounded off the alley wall to land in front of Sakura, cutting her off. Skidding to a halt mere metres from it, she took the opportunity to get a closer look at its features. It had pointed ears and almond-shaped eyes that were black and cruel. With Kuma's limp body hanging from its jaws like a mouse, its appearance was clearly feline. Its forked tail twitched and the familiarity of the image made her heart sink.

"Demon," she whispered.

The tailed beast growled again, as if in understanding. Then without warning it pounced.

Sakura was ready for it this time, springing back with a burst of chakra. She continued backwards in leaps, just out of reach of its terrible claws. She couldn't turn her back on it, and she couldn't fight it head-on. There was nothing to do but keep the gap between them as wide as possible. This wasn't the first tailed demon she had encountered; it wasn't even the first without a jinchuuriki vessel. But every other time she had been prepared and backed up by her friends and comrades. Every other time, there was hope.

With a  _slam_  that knocked the wind from her lungs and seemed to split her head in half, she realised hope was gone. The demon cat had been herding her, guiding her toward the wall. And now it was upon her, there was nowhere left to run. Even if she tried to scale the bricks, a single swipe of the claws or lash of the tail would send her sprawling back to her death before she clear it. She was reminded of the training session where she had played the rabbit and been backed against the tree. The way she had gotten out of that situation suddenly seemed foolish. An emotional genjutsu would never have worked against a true enemy like the one she faced now. She couldn't fight the two-tails demon like it was a friend.

The thought of her friends, safe and far from this danger, was a comforting one. Clinging to Naruto's infectious laughter, Sai's unreadable smile and Kakashi's crinkled black eyes slowed her breathing and helped to quell the dread in her heart. If these were to be her final moments, she would not fear them. She was going die like a true ninja, in service to her country. Granted, it was sooner than she would have liked, but it seemed ungrateful to be afraid when at least she had been spared the grief of having her teammates share her fate. She closed her eyes to the burning blue glow, calmly waiting for the final strike. One second passed, and then two. Sakura frowned, wondering why the beast waited to finish her. Cracking one eye open, she saw the cat's tail twitch in what seemed like agitation as it paced back and forth uncertainly. It seemed to have lost its focus, leaving enough of an opening for Sakura to flee through if she hadn't thought it would attack if she did.

"Sakura!" someone cried, appearing over the opposite wall.

Kakashi's voice was like an injection of pure guilt and fear straight into her heart.  _Oh kami,_ she thought,  _I've killed us_ both _, now._  All those years of feeling like a liability, all those insecurities about how her comparative weakness would impact her teammates were suddenly realised. He must have woken to find her gone, and then tracked her down. The jounin had followed her to his death, and it made her want to scream. The two-tails hissed, but instead of concentrating on the newcomer like she had expected it to, it swiped out at her instead. Dashing between its paws on instinct alone, adrenaline left her blissfully numb to the three claws that raked her arm as she leapt up toward Kakashi.

Kakashi barely had enough time to get a good look at the enemy before his pink-haired teammate barrelled into him and tackled him backward. "Sa-" was all he managed to get out before the breath was knocked from his lungs by the impact of her lithe body. They crashed down onto the roof of an old café, scrambling for purchase on the loose roofing tiles. Sakura got free first and immediately launched herself back over the ledge toward the demon. She was trying to draw its attention, and even though Kakashi was closer, it was working. It stalked her slowly, matching her movements step-for-step with predatory relish.

Kakashi formed some quick seals and tore the alley apart with an earth-type jutsu. It rained brick and mortar over the cat, which simply shook it off. But part of the wall had collapsed to make a space large enough for a person to crawl inside. Kakashi saw the girl dive for it; but so did the monster. It opened its massive jaws, forming some sort of orb of fire inside its mouth that would almost definitely incinerate Sakura at that range. Kakashi felt the same way he had when he saw her body riddled with kunai in the forest back home. A thousand strategies ran through his genius mind, but all would be too late to save Sakura from her fate. Still, it wasn't in his nature to give up on his teammates, so ignoring all his clever plans, he dove straight for the beast.

One second it was there, and the next it was gone. For one wild moment he thought he had destroyed it with a single blow. Then he realised that it had not vanished into thin air, merely retreated. It ran silently along the length of the alley before turning and disappearing from view. Kakashi wondered what had happened to make it run like that. He and Sakura were outmatched and about to die, yet it had chosen to flee instead of finish them off. Why?

Something in the wreckage shifted, and the jounin was brought back to the present. Sakura slid from her almost-coffin, and he rushed forward to help her up. Her chakra was almost spent and she looked like she was about to faint.

"Why did it run?" she wheezed, voicing his own concerns. "We were done-for."

As though saying it aloud had made it real for the girl, she clapped her hand to her mouth in horror. "Kami, we  _were_ done-for. You were about to die and it would have been my fault." Kakashi could feel her pulse race through his loose hold on her arm, and he squeezed it reassuringly.

"We're okay, Sakura. Somehow we survived. And even if we didn't, I would never blame you for it. You did great just now."

"But if it weren't for me you would never have been out here in the first place," she insisted.

 _So that was why she pushed me backward,_ Kakashi realised."If it weren't for you we'd be no closer to finding out what enemy we were meant to be fighting anyway. Now we do; even if we don't know what it ran off to all of a sudden." he frowned beneath his mask.

"Not to," Sakura breathed, gazing at something over his shoulder.

"What?"

"Not running  _to._ Running  _from,_ " she explained, pointing.

The sun was just cresting the top of the buildings, bathing the town in its comforting golden glow. Dawn was breaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yep, that was the two-tails demon (sort of). To remove any confusion about the time that this story is set, it's been a few years since the Akatsuki extracted the two-tails from Yuugito, which was a canon event. So why does it seem to be running around years later? Well, remember the Sora arc? It's like that.


	8. Fear

By the time the pair got back to their room and explained the situation to Naruto and Sai, the sun was resting somewhere overhead and the village had begun to stir. Team Kakashi were sitting on the floor, staring out the window at the building commotion and trying to listen for any angry mobs that may be headed their way.

"It's going to look bad," Kakashi had told them. "The way that alley was damaged could only have been done by a ninja. They will be suspicious of any newcomers to the village, which means us."

Naruto had been holding open Sakura's med kit as she used it to dress her wound. "But the feudal lord knows we're here to stop the problem," he said. "He wouldn't let the villagers arrest us, would he?"

Kakashi paused, thinking. "It looks bad," he finally repeated. "But I don't think the feudal lord would give us away so quickly. We should be alright if we lie low until nightfall. Then we can go meet the demon head-on."

The bandage Sakura was carefully unwinding fell from her grasp and rolled to a stop at Kakashi's feet. He handed it back to her, taking a closer look at her burns as he did. The skin was red and blistered but she bit her lip and began binding her left arm without a sound. Once again the jounin was reminded how far his once-student had come.

"Kakashi," she began, looking up at him with an unreadable expression.

"Mm?"

"I don't think we can fight this one."

"What do you mean? Listen, I know your chakra's still depleted, but you shouldn't worry. We'll give you plenty of cover."

"That's not it at all!" Sakura cried angrily, leaping to stand toe-to-toe with him. "Didn't you notice? Didn't you see how it acted?"

"Sakura-" Naruto began.

"It was backing off! It had me cornered, then suddenly it lost interest!" her eyes were wide, trying to make the copy-nin understand. "It stopped fighting when I did. Then when you arrived, it didn't attack you, it attacked me again."

"Because you were closer."

"No! Because I was scared!" The word reverberated around the room like a curse. Every ninja knew it was shameful to admit to fear, but Sakura was desperate to make them understand.

"Before you got there, I had given up. I had come to terms with what was about to happen, and I stopped feeling afraid of dying. But then, when you shouted my name, it all came back. All my fear came flooding back, but not for me. I was terrified that it would kill you too, that it would be my fault you died! And then suddenly, it was like it could see me again. That's how it hunts! It preys on fear!"

The three shinobi stared at her. It sounded unlikely, but Sakura seemed convinced.

Naruto was the first to speak. "But Kakashi would have been concerned for you too. Why didn't it attack him when he became the easier target?"

Sai stepped forward. "I believe I understand. Kakashi is an elite ninja that has spent years compartmentalising battlefield emotions like fear and worry. Sakura, on the other hand, has always had difficulties with this."

Naruto and Kakashi winced, expecting Sakura to knock the boy's teeth out, but she just smiled triumphantly. Sometimes it paid to have someone so frank and insultingly honest on the team. "See? It makes sense. I was at my limit, on the brink of defeat. My nerves were stretched to breaking point. Kakashi's arrival was just the last straw."

Kakakshi thought back on the way the demon had acted. It did seem possible, but it unsettled him too. What idea was worse? That Sakura had been ready to die, or that he hadn't felt true fear for her? He had always prided himself on his mastery of distracting emotions, but to see it in such stark contrast to Sakura's own compassion and concern made him re-evaluate his priorities. What did it truly mean to be a good ninja? Those who don't follow the rules are trash. Sakura's actions last night had definitely broken the rules. She had snuck out without telling her teammates, attacked an unarmed civilian, and chosen to fight the Nibi without him, even going as far as tackling him to the ground to keep him safe. But he had also learned the hard way that those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. Did Sakura see his fearlessness as a lack of concern for her? Did she feel abandoned? He hoped she knew that Kakashi placed her life, all their lives, over any mission.

"The logic is sound," he finally said, wishing he knew what more he could say. Sakura nodded, resuming her first aid. She tried to wrap the bandage around the top of her shoulder, but it kept coming loose and chafing against her skin. Taking it from her hands in one fluid movement, Kakashi began binding her arm more firmly with well-practised ease. She dropped her hand, letting him take over, though he noticed how tense she felt. He wondered just how badly demon-chakra wounds hurt. It seemed unfair that the girl had to experience it twice in her short life.

He tried to be as careful as possible, but every now and then she would flinch, biting her lip and trying not to jerk her arm from his grasp. "Sorry," he would murmur every time, and Sakura knew he was apologising for more than just the pain. It seemed they had been apologising to each other a lot lately. It was strange, really. It made them awkward and distant whilst still drawing them closer together than she had ever known them to be before. She thought about it for a moment and decided that the sparring and yelling was just as fun as it was painful. Even this, quietly sitting while he bandaged her arm and discussed strategy with the others, was nice. It wasn't the first time they had been that close, but it was the first time it had felt… more than obligation. It was as though they finally saw each other as equals. Sakura was no longer a student and Kakashi was no longer a teacher. They were simply teammates. Or was 'friends' a better word? She wondered if Kakashi would think so.

The door to their room creaked and ninja reflexes had them on their feet before it was fully open. It was not an angry mob that stood in the doorway, but it was not the maid either. Three men with serious faces and the Crane Lord's crest stamped on their uniforms stepped forward into the room, assessing them. It was clear they knew who the ninja were.

"His excellency, Lord Kimofu of the Crane Village, requests an audience with you," the middle man said, moving aside to let them pass. It did not escape the ninjas' notice that the men regarded them warily, and kept their hands on the hilts of their swords.

The walk to the Feudal Lord's palace at the centre of the village was long and silent. The guards kept to the lesser-used streets, trying to avoid making a scene. But even the few passers-by there were did not stop to question the men or the group of 'travellers' in their custody. They kept their faces down and hurried about their business. Kakashi wondered if it was the palace uniform that intimidated them, or him and his teammates.

The climbed the steps and waited in the palace foyer, which was far grander than the unassuming village suggested. After a few minutes, their gruff entourage lead them through a series of mazelike corridors to the Feudal Lord's meeting room. This was their first glimpse of the man who had hired their services. He was squat and dark-haired with a pair of pince-nez glasses and expensive turquoise robes that showed off his power and influence. He scowled at the four ninja, who bowed respectfully before sitting.

"So you are the ninja from the Hidden Leaf. The ones who were to be our salvation," he said gravely. Team Kakashi remained silent, though for Naruto it took effort. "Your village and ours share a long and prosperous history, as we do with many of your strongest allies. When your men went missing with several of my people, I placated the crowds, allowing yet more ninja entry to prove the innocence of your men. I see now that this was a gross error of judgement on my part."

His self-deprecating words hung in the air like a shadow. A feudal lord did not readily admit mistakes. Sakura cringed inwardly; he must have been more upset about the alley than they realised.

"And so I stand before you, Leaf nin, and ask; what are your demands?" The lord stood as resolute and dignified as ever, but Sakura wondered if she didn't see something deeper. His eyes were smudged with grey, as though he hadn't slept very well, or had been under recent stress.

"Demands?" Naruto asked, eyes narrowing in confusion.

"I cannot say that they will all be met, for I must always be a lord before I am a father." Sakura felt her heart sink at those words. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next. "However, we are willing to consider any reasonable request in exchange for the safe return of our people, and my daughter."

 _The little body with long hair_ , Sakura thought, though she had been trying to get the image out of her head.  _It was his daughter._

"My lord," Kakashi spoke up, placing his hand over his heart in a gesture of honesty, "I can assure you, we are not the enemy here. On the contrary, we have been doing all in our power to protect your village from the true abductor, at great personal risk." He glanced meaningfully at Sakura's bandaged arm.

"That is not proof of your honesty, only of your incompetence," Lord Kimofu spat, eyeing the kunoichi with derision. For all that he seemed a devoted father, it was clear what he thought of female warriors.

"Sakura does not get injured easily, and certainly not from incompetence. That is no normal wound. It is the result of direct contact with the chakra of a tailed beast.  _That_ is your true enemy: the two-tails demon cat," Kakashi explained. Sakura silently unwound her bandaged arm to reveal the curious burn pattern to everyone. It coiled around her bicep like a snake, and the blistered skin glistened with the oily salve she had cleaned it with.

The feudal lord stared at her arm with an unreadable expression, until one of his advisors stepped forward to whisper something in his ear. His gaze shifted to Naruto.

"You are Konoha's jinchuuriki," he said stabbing the air with an accusing finger. "Aside from the Cloud's eight-tails, you harbour the only demon left in our world. Yugito Nii is dead, and the two-tails with her. It was you that caused this injury, to trick us!''

Naruto stood up so fast that Kakashi almost didn't grab him in time. Placing a restraining hand on his chest, he spoke softly but firmly. "Don't do anything that will make our situation worse, Naruto. We know you didn't hurt Sakura, and once we leave here we can prove it. So don't get us arrested just yet, okay?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment, before returning to his seat with a curt nod. Sakura blinked back tears of pity for her friend. He  _had_ hurt her once, and even though it had long-since healed, she knew he had never quite forgiven himself. The feudal lord's accusation only reminded him of his failings.

"My lord?" Sakura spoke up for the first time. Kakashi gave her a warning glance, but did not move to restrain her like he had Naruto. She hoped she wouldn't embarrass him like she had at the bar.

"My lord," she began again, "you are correct in saying that the two-tailed cat is no more." The man's perplexed expression gave her the courage to continue. "This creature was nowhere near as powerful as a normal free demon. If it were, your city would not be standing now. I- we believe, that it was something similar to an imprint of the residual, unsealed chakra of the two-tails; something that is called a demon cloak."

Naruto gave her a thumbs-up and Kakashi nodded approvingly. She had explained well, albeit out of turn.

"I fought this creature myself, my lord, and I saw the way it steals people… the way it stole your daughter."

"You saw my daughter?" Kimofu asked sharply, all pretence gone. His advisors muttered amongst themselves at this revelation.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "I- yes, my lord, I believe so. At least, I saw a small child with long hair. I can't say for sure if she was the princess."

"Mariko," he trembled, adjusting his spectacles as though his daughter were standing before him, just out of focus. "My Mariko."

"There was nothing I could do to save her," Sakura continued awkwardly. The man did not respond. "It was just- the demon cat already-"

"There is no demon cat!" Lord Kimofu cried, slamming his hands on the armrests of his chair. With his glasses askew and his face twisted with rage, he suddenly looked quite alarming.

"You little lying witch! You've stolen my Mariko with your ninja magic and won't give her back to me!" His nails dug into the gilded wood and left marks there. "But I'll make you give her back. I'll make you pay!" He flung himself forward and for a moment Sakura was too stunned to respond.

Within the space of a heartbeat her vision of the feudal lord was obscured by the backs of her teammates. Kakashi, Naruto, even Sai stood protectively to block the man. She looked down and realised she was standing too. Being a ninja meant that sometimes your body didn't wait for your mind to catch up before responding.

"Stay away from her," Naruto growled.

"Guards! Kill them! But I want the girl alive! She needs to tell me where she's taken my daughter!"

Chaos erupted as his men moved to respond. Though the Hidden Crane had no ninja of its own, its local guards were well-trained and disciplined soldiers. They attacked as a swift and unified force, swords bared. Team Kakashi were not there to fight. Turning for the exit, they faced only those they could not easily evade. Sakura thought she would draw the worst of the attack toward her, but the guards were smart. They knew it was harder to capture an opponent alive than it was to face them on an equal standing. Sakura was halfway through the ornate wooden doors before she realised her team wasn't with her. Cursing under her breath and unwilling to waste her few concealed weapons, she doubled back.

A sword came out of nowhere and she side-stepped it just in time to enter another's path. Parrying it with a kunai, she turned its momentum back on itself, toppling its wielder. Leaping away before the guard could recover, she used the shoulders of another to boost herself up and over a wall of men that surrounded Naruto. His expression was one of enthusiasm. Though he had taken his share of lives, fighting without actively trying to kill his opponent was the perfect arrangement for the kind-hearted boy. He was having far too much fun dumping people on the ground one after another, making uncharacteristically neat piles of unconscious bodies. Sakura had to wave to get his attention. Naruto gave a sheepish smile, kicking one last guard before heading off to the entrance.

She felt a hand rest on her uninjured shoulder and was about to detach to from its owner's arm before she realised it was Kakashi.

"Time to go," he told her, steering her forward, "Sai's got the rest covered."

Glancing behind her, she caught a brief glimpse of Sai's ink dogs tackling the remaining guards to the ground, and the feudal lord's beautiful robe stained with black.

As the guards were cleaning themselves up, Team Kakashi was escaping the village. There was no hope of going back to The Rocking Horse for their packs, so their journey across town was swift and unburdened. Before anyone seemed to notice four ninja fleeing the feudal lord's palace they were on the edge of town and hiking through the muddy marshlands. The adrenaline the unexpected battle had provided was sapped within the first five minutes of trudging through that sticky brown landscape. Sakura felt like she had grown five inches in height from the mud clinging to the soles of her boots. And still they walked, Kakashi in the lead, looking for a dry place to set up camp.

"We should just continue on," Sai said, rubbing insect repellent on his arms, "if we kept a reasonable pace, we'd be halfway to Konoha before we had to stop."

Without warning, Kakashi swung around to face them. "We're not going back to Konoha yet."

"Why not?" Sai asked, swatting at a particularly persistent mosquito. Though the insects were plaguing them all, they seemed to prefer Sai for some reason. His exposed skin was already covered in itchy red bumps. "Our client just tried to kill us. The mission is over."

"The mission was to clear the names of our comrades and find the lost villagers," Kakashi countered, "and since we've done neither of those things, we're going to stay." His tone made it clear that the idea would not be put to a vote.

"Exactly!" Naruto agreed. "It doesn't matter what the feudal lord thinks about us, or if we get paid. Granny Tsunade would want us to stay."

Sai seemed perplexed by this idea but did not challenge Naruto. Kakashi shrugged, his usual aloof self once more.

The place they finally found was both dry and sheltered by several tall trees. They sat in the lee of a rock about twice the height of Kakashi, protected somewhat from the rapidly-cooling breeze. All their supplies and provisions that made camping bearable were safely locked in their room at the inn, which Sakura thought about longingly. They had collected twigs and branches from the fallen trees and lit a small campfire as the sky became dark enough to hide the smoke. All that was left was to wait. They did so in a tense silence punctuated by the soft crackling of the not-quite-dry wood. Not even the birds were calling.

"This reminds me," Kakashi spoke up suddenly, "of one of the first missions I ever went on."

Sakura sat up slightly, intrigued. She knew Kakashi was only speaking to break the tension, and any story he told would probably be made up, but it was a nice surprise to have their stoic leader be the talkative one for once.

"It was just going to be a simple overnight mission to get us acquainted with the idea," he continued on, his eye losing its focus as he looked back to the past, "but one of my teammates had a knack for getting us in trouble."

He began to tell them about how his teammate dropped his pack in the river and almost drowned himself trying to retrieve it. He'd had to sleep soaking wet and without any bedding.

"I wouldn't let him share my supplies," he said, half smiling half sad. "I said he had to learn his lesson, or he'd just do it again next time."

"Now I  _know_  that's story's made up," Naruto laughed. "That doesn't sound like the great 'friends before missions' Kakashi we know."

"Well, I was stupid and selfish back then," Kakashi said soberly. Then, clapping his hands together, he said, "but a  _really_ good story is the time that Sakura stole my Icha Icha book."

Just as Sakura was about to throw something at him, a rustling in the trees made them all pause. The noise intensified until it was all around them, getting closer with every passing second. Sakura, who had been starting to feel the drowsy effects of sleep- and chakra-loss, suddenly felt wide awake. They waited in the greyish half-darkness, squinting through the trees and keeping close to the fire and each other, for their enemy to reveal themselves. After what seemed like an eternity, the rustling turned into half-formed shadows, which broke into the circle of the clearing and became people. But they were not the squadron of soldiers that the ninja were expecting. They stumbled along in a disorganised crowd, men, women and children of varying ages. They seemed unaware of their surroundings, gazing with blind, lifeless eyes as some external force drove them on.

A small boy got close enough to Sakura that she could have reached out and touched his shoulder. But he did not notice her, passing by as though she were little more than stone. In fact, it was the large stone they had been sheltering beneath that he and the others seemed to be heading for. They clustered around it, scraping their hands along its rough surface, all jostling to be closest.

"The villagers," Sakura whispered hoarsely. "What are they doing?"

But then the night erupted in blue flame and she understood.


	9. Haunted

Kakashi only needed one look at the villagers to know they were dead. He had felt for the pulse of a young man as he passed, and his suspicions were confirmed when he couldn't find it. There was no spark of life or understanding to them, no intelligence or awareness in their eyes. They were like puppets without strings. Kakashi watched them gather around the massive rock, people from all different lives, though none seemed very old. He caught a glimpse of a Konoha forehead protector amongst the civilian clothes.  _So our allies had been victims after all_ , he thought. He supposed that made sense. Ninjas lived in a world filled with things to fear, and if Sakura was right about how the demon cat hunted, the shinobi would have been prime targets.

Suddenly, the rock lit up like it had caught fire. Blue light filled the clearing, casting ghoulish shadows on the trees. The villagers were engulfed in the flames coming from the rock, which quickly formed a feline head and two wicked tails. Night had finally fallen, and the Nibi was free to hunt once more. Kakashi cursed his foolishness. He had been so preoccupied with keeping the Crane Lord's forces at bay that he had ignored the threat the chakra cat might pose by night. Instead, he had camped right beside the cursed creature! Now they were caught unawares with no way of fighting such a powerful entity.

The cat growled, finally sensing the intruders' presence. Sakura felt as though she were trapped in the same nightmare, forced to face that terrible cat over and over again. For Naruto and Sai, this was their first encounter with the creature. They seemed both entranced and horrified by its glowing blue tails and rows of sharp fangs.

"It's like the legends," Sai said breathlessly, "about ghostly cats who control the dead like puppets and haunt the living with fearful images."

It didn't surprise Sakura that Sai knew about such terrible old legends. No doubt he had read several books on the subject.

"The Nibi is most-likely where such ghost stories originated from," Kakashi explained, avoiding looking into the cat's demonic eyes.

The Nibi growled once more, a low, commanding sound, and the villagers turned from it to gaze sightlessly at the ninja. Apparently their presence was not to go unchallenged. They moved forward, faster and more purposeful than before, each citizen's eyes filled with the eerie blue glow of the cloak's chakra. Their intent was clear.

"Kakashi," Sakura whispered earnestly, "They're the villagers we came to protect. We can't just-"

"They're already dead, Sakura," The jounin interrupted, drawing out his hidden weapons, "They aren't the same people they were before. In their current state they'd kill their best friend and not even realise it. All we can do for them now is give them proper rest."

Sakura and the others nodded miserably, palming their own blades. They would have to fight civilians and allies as though they were any other enemy.

The battle seemed without end. Sai wheeled above the fray on an inky eagle, swooping down on the villagers with the emotional detachment that came from being a former Root agent. Naruto, on the other hand, hated every second of it. There was no satisfaction fighting and killing these people. They were not bloody barbarians, though they suddenly fought like them. They were women and children and humble farmers, filled with the rage and hate of tainted chakra. A boy that looked to be about Naruto's age swung a tree branch with unlikely strength, breaking it over Naruto's back. He fell forward with a groan, scrambling to the side just before a young woman with a pregnant belly could spear him with another makeshift weapon. Nearby shadow clones came to the original's aid, pulling him to his feet and dispatching his attackers with matching expressions of distaste. It didn't feel right to slash a pregnant woman's throat, even though she didn't bleed in quite the same way as a living person would have. It was like fighting a well-preserved corpse which, Naruto supposed, was exactly what they were doing. But despite this fact, he couldn't help but feel savage and demonic himself. The nine-tails fox rumbled with pleasure at each heart-breaking blow. Naruto withdrew the majority of his clones, suddenly hating the sensation of killing several people at once. It was becoming too much to bear, and yet the villagers kept coming, unafraid.

Kakashi was similarly disheartened by the unusual battle. He found it difficult, but not impossible to fight small children and formerly-innocent women. He had seen and done much in his years as a ninja, though this seemed like a personal low point. The Konoha chunin he was currently facing was called Sakamoto, though he had forgotten his first name. He was a lot younger than Kakashi, but they had gone on the odd mission together and shared drinks at the bar what seemed like a million years ago. It felt like a betrayal to fight him. But the Sakamoto he knew had brown eyes, not blue, and he knew in his heart that this was little more than his hijacked and tortured body.

But then Sakamoto spoke and Kakashi's resolve slipped. "Why you tryin' ta kill me, Hatake-san?" the corpse asked, using the same too-formal name that the chunin always called him by. The punch that Kakashi had been aiming at his heart went wide, hitting empty air and pulling the rest of Kakashi with its momentum. He flew past the man, feeling sharp pain across his jawbone even before he hit the ground. He rolled forward into a crouched, defensive position on his knees as his once-friend advanced. The tanto the man held was stained with Kakashi's blood, which he raised to his lips and licked from the blade. Faintly revolted, Kakashi felt warmth soaking into his mask at a rapid rate and wondered for one panicked moment if Sakamoto had nicked his carotid artery. Before he could raise a hand to defend himself from another blow, however, the chunin turned and disappeared. Bewildered at his sudden retreat, Kakashi tried to search for him through the chaotic backdrop of battle, but was soon interrupted by three more foes, drawn by the sight of his blood.

Sakura was in trouble. Not only was she exhausted from last night's events, but last night seemed to be finding new and cruel ways of haunting her. The girl from the bar attacked with violent unpredictability, a stark contrast to the eerily-disciplined moves of the young children she had fought off before. If she had thought that was bad, this was like a chakra-scalpel of irony straight to the heart. Here was the girl she had tried so hard to protect and save, the girl she had then gotten killed for her efforts. Now that same girl was trying to kill  _her,_ and she had no choice but to defend in turn.

 _She's already dead,_ she thought to herself,  _I saw her die. It's because of me that she's here at all. But I can't help that now. I have to kill her for good or she'll kill_ me _._ The bar-girl's inarticulate screams of rage were met with gritted teeth and silent resolve. Sakura would help the girl one last time, in the only way she could. She understood now why the girl had been taken in the first place. Her short life must have been filled with fear. She had walked the streets before her lover had found her. He had beaten her, then been beaten himself before her eyes. She must have smelled irresistible to the Nibi. The woman's chaotic kicks and punches suddenly gave Sakura an opening, and she forced herself to take it. Driving her kunai deep into the girl's exposed stomach, she fought the urge to retch. The flurry of limbs halted as the demon cat's control over the corpse ebbed away. The slim blonde collapsed forward onto Sakura, who let go of one of her precious few blades to get away. She stood there for a moment, catching her breath and assessing her own injuries, as the broken girl lay unmoving for ever more.

"Sakura!" A voice called from behind her, and she whirled around. Someone lay crumpled on the ground, in much the same way as the girl was. But this was no random villager. It was Kakashi.

His flak vest was ripped almost in half, and was stained dark brown with blood. Kakashi's arms struggled to prop him up, but he collapsed back to the ground with a cry of pain that turned Sakura's insides to ice.

"Sakura," he called again, "help me, quick."

The sight of her captain's blood made her feet move without her consent, but at the last moment she halted, hesitating. Something Sai had said before troubled her. He mentioned legends about demon cats tormenting the living with horrible images, and though Sakura knew such legends were probably highly-exaggerated, she couldn't help but feel wary.

"How did you get hurt?" She asked. It took a lot to hurt the great Copy-nin so badly.

"That big guy from the bar, the one you attacked," he managed between shallow breaths. Sakura felt a stab of guilt, knowing the only reason the beefy man was around to hurt Kakashi was because of her. "Please, Sakura," he whispered, his whole body shuddering with pain, "I'm going to die without you."

That was all Sakura needed for her medic instincts to kick in. She crouched down beside him, hand glowing green with the chakra she had been carefully conserving. She wouldn't let her friend die before she had used it all.

Suddenly Kakashi's gloved hand clamped down on her glowing one, pulling her down as he pulled himself up. She was reminded of the day they had trained together, tripping each other over. But then it had been for fun. Now, she knew she had been tricked.

Kakashi's blade flashed as it sliced the top of her forehead. Quicker than lightning he was on his feet and she was kneeling in the dirt, blinded by her own blood. It felt as though her entire head had been set on fire. She could hear herself screaming in pain, but could see nothing but red. She scrubbed the blood from her eyes, helped by the tears of pain streaming from them. She had to get her vision back, if only for a few seconds to get away.

The blood flow cleared a new path away from her eyes and she could see Kakashi once more. Either he was under a genjutsu or she was, but she wondered why the pain of her wound wouldn't dispel it if it were hers. But then he raised his forehead protector and her opinion changed. Beneath, where his sharingan should be, was nothing but an empty socket, hollow and black. Kakashi laughed at her horrified expression, wiping a chunk of bloody pink hair from his kunai. She got slowly to her feet, fearing any sudden movements would make the monstrous Kakashi look-alike attack again.

"I always knew you would be the first to die," Kakashi said, in the calm voice Sakura had come to associate with his jokes and playful teasing. But she wasn't laughing now. Kakashi had never said something so hurtful to her before, yet it felt like something she thought he might think. "It's because you're too weak," he explained, circling her like a shark. Sakura pivoted to keep him in her sight. "You were always the weakest. Of course, you know that already. Everyone does."

"Why are you saying these things?" Sakura whispered, gripping her kunai defensively at her side.

"Aren't they true, Sakura? Do you think I'm  _lying to_ you?" the teacherly amusement in his voice was almost too much for her to bear. She knew Kakashi would never say such things, but she also knew she  _was_ the weakest, the one that needed the most help. She had felt like that since the day they had met.

"None of us wanted you on our team, you know," Kakashi continued, "We all used to hope that you'd just get yourself killed on some mission, so we wouldn't have to keep slowing down for you. You're pathetic," he hissed in her ear as he passed. "That's why Sasuke left. You drove him away."

"No," Sakura said finally, her voice trembling. "No, he left to avenge his clan."

"But you could have stopped him from leaving," Kakashi continued, empty socket boring holes into the girl. "If you had been strong enough, he might have stayed. But he thought you were annoying. He was glad to be free of you. I wish I could have gone with him; but I had to keep babysitting  _you_ instead."

Sakura's head wound started bleeding again. Sticky red liquid trickled back into her stinging eyes, too fast for her to stem the flow.

"I hate you, Haruno Sakura," Kakashi's voice came from somewhere to her right. She struck out blindly, but didn't make contact with anything.

"I wish you were dead. You are nothing but a burden to me," this time it was to her left. It felt horrible to hear those things, said in Kakashi's voice. She pressed her hands to her ears but his cruel laughter got through. "Scared of the truth, are we? Tsk tsk, Sakura."

"Shut up!" she screamed, spinning around to where she had heard his voice last. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"You're going to die, Sakura," Kakashi shouted over the top of her screams. "Right- now!"

It was as though someone had pushed a button in her head. Blind and deaf, she could only feel rather than see herself plunge her kunai forward into the reddish darkness of her vision. She could only feel rather than hear the dull thud and that told her she had made contact with something. She only felt vicious satisfaction at having finally destroyed the cruel phantom.

Wiping her eyes with her gloved hands, she looked down upon her victim. But the image of Kakashi had changed. There was no slashed-open chest and the empty eye-socket was once more filled with the swirling red sharingan. His eyes were open with surprise and her own kunai was pinned deep in his neck.

"Sa- Saku-" Precious lifeblood splattered the dirt around him, glistening by the blue light of the demon cat.

"Kakashi?" Sakura choked, hoping against hope that she was still imagining things. That it was blood and not the sharingan that blazed red on the jounin's face.

"Came to- help," he spluttered, eyes losing focus. With one last shudder, he lay still.

Sakura continued to stare down at him, ignoring the blood on her face and the battle that still raged on around her. None if it mattered. Kakashi was dead; and she had killed him.

Something or someone collided with her and knocked her to the ground. The stinging returned to her head, but it did not bring her mind clarity. She swiped it impatiently with her chakra, stopping the pain completely. But without it, the other, smaller injuries began to ache, calling for her attention. She didn't have time to deal with such an unimportant feeling as pain, so she healed those too. In fact, she never wanted to feel pain again, so she let her chakra spread down from her hand, up her arm, across her torso, and all over her body. She had never done it before, and part of her knew that it was because she didn't have enough to sustain it for long; but it was nice to feel numb, so she stayed that way.

She was a glowing green ninja, walking across the battlefield without pain or purpose. Villagers struck at her with their feeble weapons, but nothing could hurt her for long. She looked down at herself, admiring her cloak of green chakra. It was just like Naruto's red fox cloak, or the Nibi's blue one.

Thinking about the Nibi reminded her where she was, and why the world had just ended before her eyes. It was the demon cat's fault. It tricked her into killing her captain. It played on her fears of rejection and weakness, and Kakashi paid the price for them. She headed for the rock where the Nibi still crouched. She knew it was free to leave the rock if it wished, even travel as far from it as the nearby village. But it chose to stay with the rock, and now Sakura understood that it was protecting it.

The cat seemed to sense her intent, and within a heartbeat several foes came to stop her. She knocked them out of the way with a single chakra-fuelled blow. The overuse of her already depleted chakra would probably kill her, but for now she didn't care. She reached the head of the Nibi, gazing into its mismatched eyes. The cat's jaws opened wide, ready to blast the little green creature from its midst. But Sakura had been waiting for it to do that, and stepped right over its jaws and down its throat.

The searing blue chakra should have stripped the flesh from her bones, but as quickly as its chakra washed over Sakura's skin, her own chakra healed the burns. It wasn't enough to keep her completely untouched, but it would keep her alive long enough to do what she needed to. She was inside the Nibi's mouth, its jaws clamped firmly around her, trapping her in. It was doing its best to destroy the threat that Sakura had become, but she could see the surface of the rock beyond the azure haze around her. There was the slightest of faults in the grain; a weak point. She raised her fist, knowing her timing had to be perfect. The demon cat struggled all around her, alternatingly trying to jolt and crush her. Taking a deep breath, she drew her chakra back from the rest of her body and focused it into her raised fist.

"I'll kill you," she muttered, before smashing into the rock with all her strength.

It took Kakashi five seconds to feel that something was wrong. It took him four seconds to escape the school-age children that had surrounded him and pinpoint the disturbance in chakra-signature. It took three seconds to realise that the glowing green person that the demon cat had swallowed was actually Sakura, and two seconds to start running.

Unfortunately, it only took one second for the world to explode and his vision to go black.


	10. Exorcised

Kakashi opened his eyes and tried to remember the last conscious moments of his life. He heard nothing but silence, and assumed the blast had burst his eardrums. But slowly the soft sounds of birds and small creatures preparing for the new day met his ears, and he sat up slowly.

It seemed he had been out for a while. Dawn was starting to break over the marshland, bathing everything in a pinkish glow so unlike the ominous blue he remembered. Around him lay the bodies of the dead villagers, finally still. There was no sign of the stone or the cat and he realised he must have been blasted back from the clearing. He had to get up and look for his teammates, who could be anywhere.

"Kakashi?" Naruto called, and he twisted around to look behind him. There was Naruto, who looked slightly shaken but otherwise completely healthy, and Sai, who was being supported by Naruto and looked decidedly worse for wear.

"He was flying overhead when that explosion happened," Naruto explained, "so he got blasted about fifty feet up in the air without his eagle."

Kakashi nodded his understanding, pushing himself up to help the two. "Where's Sakura?" he asked Naruto as he bent to examine the other boy. Sai looked bruised and shell-shocked. Kakashi was no medic, but he figured he'd gotten away with only a few cracked ribs and a nasty concussion.

"We thought Sakura was with you," Naruto bit his lip, suddenly worried for the girl, "I've covered every other inch of ground for miles. I've even checked all the bodies."

"Have you been back to the clearing?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, but there isn't much left. The cat's gone, and the big rock's split in half for some reason."

"That was Sakura," Kakashi explained, "she destroyed the cat and caused the explosion." He raked an impatient hand through his silvery hair as he paced.  _Where was she?_

"Sakura's chakra did all this?" Naruto gestured around at the limp bodies and slightly-scorched trees.

Kakashi nodded. "We have to find her. Can you make any clones?"

Naruto shook his head. "I've used up all my normal chakra, and my clones- it's like they don't want to be created using the nine-tails' chakra anymore." He tried to look nonchalant, but Kakashi could tell the boy was worried by it.

"It's probably for the best. Tonight has been… difficult in many ways. One demon is enough to deal with for now, and your body probably knows that too." Kakashi tried to be reassuring, and was relieved at the small smile that lifted the boy's whiskered cheeks. "Stay here and make sure Sai stays conscious. I'll find Sakura."

And before Naruto could protest, he had slipped away through the trees.

Kakashi had no idea where to begin looking for the girl. Naruto had searched already to no avail, and Sakura's pink hair should have made her easy enough to notice. He refused to believe that there might be nothing left of her to find. He had spent many years on the battlefield, and had performed the awful duty of returning corpses to grieving families more than once. But he knew he'd never be able to stand before Mr and Mrs Haruno and tell them he had failed to protect their daughter without even a body for them to bury. That was why it sometimes seemed easier for orphaned shinobi like Naruto, Sai, Sasuke and himself; there was no one left to grieve them.

Sunlight filtered through the trees, warming his exhausted body as he trudged through the carnage. He turned over every body in his path, though he knew none of them could be Sakura. They were too old or young, or imperfect in some other way. He wondered again what had happened to the girl to make her chakra glow like it had. She'd looked like a ghost, the restless spirit of the forest come to exorcise the blue demon poisoning its land. She was without fear; such a contrast to the Sakura he knew, who worried about everyone and everything. The Sakura who had tackled her commanding officer to the ground to try to stop him from getting killed. The Sakura who had stolen his book and nearly died of embarrassment when he found out she'd read it. The Sakura who knew all-too well what it meant to fight someone like you mean to kill them.

All the guilt and fear and  _hate_ that welled up at the thought of losing another teammate finally broke the surface of his calm exterior. He levelled it all at a nearby tree, striking it over and over until his knuckles ached and his lip bled from biting back shouts of anguish. He leant against the tree, breathing heavily and fighting to regain control once more. Birds, disturbed from their home, screeched and wheeled above his head. He waved his hands tiredly in defeat. "Okay fine, sorry," he muttered, glancing up at them. "I didn't m-" he stopped mid-sentence and sucked in a hasty breath. Why hadn't they looked  _up?_ There, sitting on a branch with her legs dangling either side, was Sakura. Her hair and clothes were tattered and stained to the point of being almost unrecognisable, but he knew it was her. What he didn't know was why she hadn't given a sign she was there.

Quick as a flash, he was sitting across from her, balancing on the branch. "Sakura?" he said uncertainly, "are you okay? Why didn't you call out?"

The girl should have been dead. Her skin was raw and enflamed, as though she had been burnt all over. Her face was covered in dried blood, and even though Kakashi could see no trace of a wound, he suspected it was hers. She did not look him in the eye, but a small sigh escaped her lips. "Go away," she finally said, her voice toneless.

Kakashi didn't understand. "What?"

"Go away," she repeated dully, "leave me alone."

"Why?" the jounin tried to lift her head and look into her eyes, but she flinched from his touch.

"Because you aren't real."

" _What?"_ of all the reasons she possibly could have given, this was not one he was expecting. "Sakura, it's me, Kakashi."

"No you're not."

"What's wrong with you?" Kakashi asked, shaking her limp arm as though trying to wake her. "Are you under a genjutsu?" he formed a quick seal. " _Kai_!" Nothing happened. Sakura continued to stare into the distance.

"What then? A concussion? You know I'm not much of a medic, Sakura. You have to tell me what's wrong if you can. So tell me: what's wrong?" He could hear the pleading in his voice, but it was met with nothing but silence. "What's wrong?"

A flicker of emotion suddenly crossed the girl's face, one of pain. "You're dead," she whispered, "That's what's wrong."

"Sakura," the man's voice was low and urgent, willing her to listen. "I am not dead. I am right here. Look at me. I'm right here, and I'm  _fine."_

"No…" Sakura's brows knitted, "you died. I saw it happen."

"Whatever you saw was a lie, Sakura. Come on, you were always the best with genjutsus, figure it out." He bit his already-bleeding lip in frustration.

"I didn't just see it happen," she frowned, finally looking him in the eye, "I  _made_  it happen, Kakashi.  _I_  killed you."

Kakashi wasn't sure how to respond. "How?" he finally asked.

Sakura sighed, looking somewhere over his shoulder as though recounting it was tiresome. "You- or perhaps some illusion of you- were telling me about how weak you thought I was compared to you and the others. How much you wished I was dead."

"That was obviously an illusion, Sakura," Kakashi said, aghast. How could she even doubt that? "I would never think those things about you, let alone say them. In many respects you are the strongest of us all. We're not medics. We'd all go to pieces if someone came to us as broken as the people I've seen you heal. And of course I'd never want you dead. Didn't I promise to protect your life with my own? Did you think I was lying?"

Kakashi's last sentence triggered the memory of the other Kakashi, lecturing her like a teacher through his taunts. She closed her eyes as an involuntary shudder rolled through her.

Her captain laid his hand on her shoulder, ignoring her flinch. "That's it, isn't it?" he asked softly, realising. "Just like what you said about the cat. It preys on fear. And you're afraid of inadequacy?" He saw how that could be possible. People were endlessly comparing the girl to her prodigy teammates and elite captain. He himself had dismissed her more than once.

Sakura shuddered again. It hurt to think about these things, to see the pity in Kakashi's eyes.  _It isn't really Kakashi,_  she reminded herself.

"You should go now, please," she told the phantom, leaning back from his touch. "Back into my mind, or heaven or wherever you belong. It's not that I don't appreciate what you're doing, but it's not helping me."

"What am I doing?" Kakashi asked, leaning forward to try and capture her restless gaze once more. He could feel her slipping again.

"You're trying to protect me from the pain, the same way I used my chakra to protect me. You're trying to stop the hurt of Kakashi's absence, because you know it will be too much to bear. You're my mind's natural defence mechanism trying to keep me happy and numb. But I want to stop feeling numb," she whispered, "because the pain of losing my captain will be too much to survive. And that's okay, because I don't really want to live anymore."

Kakashi remembered how Sakura had sometimes spoken of the times she had worked in Ward Three of the Konoha hospital; a special ward for people who had been trapped in illusions so horrifying that they never truly recovered. They couldn't come to terms with reality, and so once-healthy ninja were forced to spend the rest of their days wandering through a sunken dream, with no hope of waking. Every time Sakura spoke of it, she used the same hushed tone with which people spoke of the dead. She'd said that was what they were, more or less. Their loved ones visited, but they may as well be strangers. It was crueller than death, in a way. Soon after hearing this, Kakashi had become more careful about using his Sharingan on enemies, and they had all spent a week brushing up on releasing genjutsu.

If it had been any normal genjutsu that trapped Sakura, he knew she would have broken it in a heartbeat and probably laughed about it after to stop them all worrying. But clearly the demon cat's power transcended typical illusions, and even Sakura wasn't immune to its effects. But the demon was gone now, and would not take her with it. She would not become the latest addition to Ward Three.

"Sakura," he began, trying to keep his voice level and reasonable, as a lifeline for her to follow back to reality, "I am not a figment of your imagination. I- I can prove it."

"How?" she asked indifferently.

Kakashi patted his pockets, looking for any kunai he had left. He hated the idea of hurting Sakura, but physical pain was the primary weapon against normal genjutsu, and he had run out of other ideas. She must already be feeling quite a bit of pain if her skin was any indication, but a shallow cut on the arm might be intense and unexpected enough to snap her out of it.

But as he felt in his back pocket, he found something even better. He thought he had left it in his weapons pouch back at the inn, but apparently not. Holding the little orange book triumphantly before him, he grinned at the apathetic Sakura.

"You started reading this book," he said waving it excitedly in her face.

"Yes, I did," she said, slightly chagrined, "but I already know that, so it's no surprise for you to tell me."

"No, it isn't," he agreed, no less cheerful. "If I were a product of your subconscious, of course I would be able to tell you that. But here's the thing: you never finished it."

"So?" she replied, frowning slightly.

"So I have read this book exactly three hundred fifty-two and a half times. I know it word-for-word. But you don't, because you stopped reading it at page…" he cast his mind back to when he had noticed her scent on the pages. Had that really been only two days ago? "…one hundred and seventy-three," he recalled. "You have absolutely no idea what happens next, and I'm fairly sure your innocent little mind couldn't dream up the reality of the great Jiraiya-sama's writing." Then he did something unexpected, forcing the still-closed book into Sakura's hands. "No peeking," he told her. Then from memory, be began to recite.

" _Do you really love me?" she asked, as the strap of her dress fell another inch._

" _Of course I do," he replied, hands cupping her elbows with an intensity that made her tingle all over._

" _How much do you love me?" her breathless voice filled his head with white noise, and his vision blurred momentarily, until the only colour he could see was the red of her gown._

" _Let me show you…"_

_He slid his hands slowly up her arms, his fingertips barely brushing her soft skin. He rounded her shoulders and felt a ticklish shudder from her neck before finally resting his palms on either side of her face. Just as slowly, he pulled her closer to him, savouring the anticipation of their first kiss._

_Finally their lips met and it was as though somebody had flicked a light switch in a dark room. Electricity crackled between them, arcing across their tingling skin to jump from one to the other. Hideki's hands slid down Sayuri's back, pulling the zipper of her dress with him as her own hands unbuttoned his shirt. This moment was perfect, unbroken, and entirely theirs._

Sakura had been listening to the story with a pink-cheeked interest that was entirely different from her previous torpor. But Kakashi was not satisfied. "Page one seventy-three," he said quietly, gesturing to the book in her lap, "read it."

Slowly, she lifted the cover and flicked through to the page she remembered reading last. She skimmed over it quickly, continuing onto the next page. Each word was exactly as Kakashi had said. The book was a solid and familiar weight in her hands; she could hardly deny that it was real. Her memory of Kakashi's voice could never have compared with the way those words had come to life when he recited them. No illusion was that good.

Slowly, experimentally, she raised one hand to lie on Kakashi's masked cheek. She could feel his features twist into a smile, and after a moment of hesitation she returned it.

"Welcome back," he said, and suddenly she was hugging him, burying her face in his chest. She knew it was embarrassing and inappropriate, but she didn't know that she would get another opportunity to something as absurd as hug Hatake Kakashi. To her surprise, his arms wrapped around her and he gently hugged her back.

"Sorry I scared you," she apologised, her voice muffled by his jacket.

"It's okay," he told her, trying to act like it was. In truth, he was still a little worried she would suddenly tap out again and leave him alone in the tree once more. But she was hugging him, so that was a good sign at least. "Just remember that I'm your teammate, Sakura."

She pulled back, properly embarrassed now. "You're right, we're teammates. It was inappropriate of me to hug you just now, I'm sorry." Sakura's face turned the same colour as her hair and she glanced away, mortified. She had only just gotten her captain back and already she had made him uncomfortable.

"What? No, I mean remember that I've always got your back," he explained, gently cupping her face in his hands and turning her to look at him once more. "You never have to face anything alone because your comrades will always be there to support you. Fight the world like an enemy if you must, but only your friends will help you win that fight."

Kakashi holding her face so close to his didn't do much to help Sakura's blush, but it did highlight the truth of his words. No matter what she needed him to be, he would be it. When she needed a teacher, he would guide her. When she needed a friend, he would listen. When she needed someone to spar with, he would face her as an equal.

But what did she need him to be now? After all that had happened, was it the same thing it had always been? And if it wasn't, how could she even begin to find out? She wasn't quite sure, but she had a pretty good idea.

After all, she did still have his book.


End file.
